'M.W^ 


z/-; 


I  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  | 
Princeton,  N.  J. 


Case^    D^ivijio! 
S'/te//;   Section... 


sec 

/Oy  j 

C  .  ! 


LECTURES 


sM©^!^^  ©^^^(pmaiM 


^vtuljnttviun  efiurcli, 


UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA: 


ADDRESSED  TO  YOUTH. 

^^^ \^r-.3L0G 

BY  ASHBEL  GREEN,  D.  D.  "1 


PHII.il.DEI.PIII  A : 

FINLEY,  CORNER  OF  FOURTH  AND  CHESNUT  STREETS;  E.  LITTELL  &  BROTHER, 
136  CHESNUT  street;    AND  TOWAR  &  HOGAN,  255  MARKET  STREET. 


Clark  i/-  Raser,  Printers,  33  Carter  s  Alley. 
1829. 


Eastern  District  of  Pennsylvania,  to  toit: 

BE  IT  REMEMBERED,  that  on  the  second  day  of  October,  in  the  fifty-fourth  year 
of  the  independence  of  the  United  States  of  America,  A.  D.  1829,  Clark  &  Raser,  of  the 
said  disti-ict,  have  deposited  in  this  office  the  title  of  a  book,  the  right  whereof  they  claim 
as  proprietors,  in  the  words  following,  to  wit: 

"  Lectures  on  the  Shorter  Catechism  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  in  the  United  States  of 
America :  addressed  to  Youth.    By  Ashbel  Green,  D.  D." 

In  conformity  to  the  act  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  intituled,  "  An  Act  for  the 
Encouragement  of  Learning,  by  securing  the  copies  of  Maps,  Charts,  and  Books,  to  the  au- 
thors and  pi-oprietors  of  such  copies,  during  the  times  therein  mentioned"— And  also  to  the 
act,  entitled,  "  An  Act  supplementary  to  an  Act,  entitled,  '  An  Act  for  the  Encourage- 
ment of  Learning,  by  securing  the  copies  of  Maps,  Charts,  and  Books,  to  the  authors  and 
proprietors  of  such  copies  during  the  times  therein  mentioned,'  and  extending  the  benefits 
thereof  to  the  arts  of  designing,  engraving,  and  etching  historical  and  other  pinnts." 

D.  CALDWELL, 
Clerk  of  the  Eastern  District  of  Pennsylvania. 


/^2:i^-toitN 


''^  ^  .'^  r^  - 


'*W  r- 


PREFACE. 


The  following  Lectures  were  originally  delivered  to  the 
youth  of  the  author's  pastoral  charge.  They  are  to  be  consi- 
dered as  the  concluding  part  of  a  course  of  religious  instruc- 
tion, commencing  with  children  at  the  dawn  of  intellect :  and 
the  nature  and  design  of  the  lectures  may  perhaps  best  be  ex- 
plained, by  briefly  stating  the  process,  of  which  they  were  the 
termination. 

While  memory  remains,  the  interesting  scenes  mil  never 
be  obliterated  from  the  author's  mind,  in  which  he  had  before 
him  tlie  children  of  his  congregation — from  the  age  of  three  or 
four  years,  to  that  of  ten  or  twelve.  They  were  counselled, 
and  admonished,  and  prayed  with,  in  language  the  most  sim- 
ple, plain,  and  tender,  that  could  be  devised ;  and  never  did 
the  speaker  find  the  difficulty  so  great,  in  addressing  any 
other  audience,  or  in  leading  any  other  devotions,  as  in  per- 
forming these  duties  for  the  lambs  of  his  flock;  in  adapting 
his  thoughts  and  his  language  to  their  capacities,  and  becoming 
their  mouth  to  God.  They  were  all  taught  some  little  forms 
of  devotion,  suited  to  their  several  ages.  Some  of  the  young- 
est, learned  the  Mother's  Catechism ;  but,  eventually,  they  all 
committed  to  memory  that  on  which  the  lectures  composing  the 
present  volume  are  founded.  The  children  were  divided  into 
classes,  according  to  the  progress  they  had  made — from  those 
who  had  learned  but  four  or  five  answers  of  the  catechism,  to 
those  who  could  accurately  repeat  the  whole.     Of  this  last  de- 


IV  PREFACE. 

scription  of  learners,  a  Bible  class  was  formed,^  which  met 
weekly  in  tlie  pastor's  study.  The  exercises  of  this  class  were 
introduced  by  an  examination  on  the  catechism,  which  they 
were  required  to  repeat  throughout;  to  this  succeeded  the  reci- 
tation of  their  Bible  lesson,  accompanied  by  explanations  from 
the  pastor,  and  the  answering  of  such  questions  as  any  mem- 
ber of  the  class  was  disposed  to  propose  to  him — A  short  ad- 
dress and  a  prayer  closed  the  whole. 

The  Catechumens  thus  instructed,  soon,  of  course,  reached 
the  years  of  maturity;  finished  their  education,  which,  in 
many  instances,  was  of  a  very  liberal  kind;  and  were  pre- 
paring to  enter  on  business  for  themselves,  and  to  become 
heads  of  families.  It  then  occurred  to  the  author,  that 
he  might  render  an  additional  service  to  these  youth,  as  im- 
portant, probably,  as  any  he  had  previously  performed.  This 
service  consisted  in  addressing  to  them  the  lectures  which  are 
now  presented  to  the  publick.  They  were  delivered  to  young 
persons,  male  and  female,  who  had  already  been  instructed  in 
religion,  and  the  most  of  whom  had  been  considerably  improv- 
ed by  reading  and  study.  They  were  therefore  no  longer  chil- 
dren. They  rather  formed  an  audience  more  than  ordinarily 
capable  of  fully  understanding  the  lectures  which  compose 
the  present  volume.  The  audience,  indeed,  soon  became 
pretty  large  and  promiscuous;  for  the  lectures  were  de- 
livered in  a  church,  the  doors  of  which  were  freely  opened 
to  all,  and  many,  of  various  ages  and  characters,  resorted 
to  it;  some  through  curiosity,  and  some  from  a  real  and  deep 
interest  which  they  took  in  the  subjects  discussed.  Still,  the 
lectures  were  addressed  exclusively  to  the  youth,  who  occupied 

"  This  was  about  eight-and-thirty  years  ago. 


PREFACE,  V 

seats  by  themselves,  immediately  before  the  speaker :  and  he 
did  not  scruple  to  use  a  freedom  and  tenderness  of  language; 
to  assume,  occasionally,  the  tone  of  parental  authority ;  to  re- 
fer, frequently,  to  the  years,  the  prospects,  the  passions,  and 
the  temptations,  of  those  who  are  in  the  morning  of  life;  to  min- 
gle reflections  and  remarks  with  his  reasoning;  to  make  nu- 
merous appeals  to  the  heart  and  conscience;  and  to  conclude 
his  lectures  with  more  of  practical  application,  than  would 
have  been  proper,  in  doctrinal  discussions  intended  for  persons 
of  a  diffei^ent  description. 

The  foregoing  statement  will  serve  to  inform  the  reader  why 
the  lectures  in  this  volume  are  such  as  he  will  find  them.  They 
are  not  compositions  originally  intended  for  the  press,  but 
discourses  prepared  to  be  spoken  to  a  collection  of  youth,  pe- 
culiarly dear  to  the  speaker;  for  whose  spiritual  instruction 
and  direction  he  was  responsible;  and  for  whose  eternal  well- 
being  he  was  deeply  solicitous.  •  The  whole  style  and  manner 
of  the  lectures  took  their  complexion  from  these  circumstances ; 
and  the  author  felt  bound  to  sacrifice  every  interfering  consi- 
deration to  the  edification  of  his  youthful  hearers ;  and  to  in- 
troduce any  thing  which  he  thought  likely  to  promote  it.  He 
especially  endeavoured  to  give  the  answers,  in  the  excellent 
catechism  which  he  expounded,  a  bearing  on  tlie  popular  and 
pernicious  errors  of  the  time  and  place  in  which  his  lectures 
were  delivered,  with  a  view  to  guard  his  juvenile  auditory 
against  being  misled  and  corrupted. 

As  to  the  publication  of  these  lectures,  the  author  can  truly 
say  that  he  has  had  much  hesitation.  When  they  were  deliver- 
ed, he  had  evidence  enough  that  they  were  popular,  and  in  a 
measure  useful.  But  he  doubted  whether  they  were  calculated 
to  be  either  acceptable  or  beneficial,- if  committed  to  the  press — 


VI  PREFACE. 

unless  th^y  should  undergo  such  alterations  as  he  had  neither 
time  nor  inclination  to  make. 

He  tried  the  experiment  of  publishing  the  first  of  the  series 
in  the  Clmstian  Advocate,  with  a  distinct  intimation,  that  it 
implied  no  pledge  that  even  a  second  would  be  added.  The 
lecture  published  appeared  to  be  well  received ;  and  not  only 
has  the  insertion  of  the  entire  series  in  that  miscellany  been 
considered  by  many  as  adding  value  to  the  work,  but  the 
author  has  been  earnestly  requested  by  Ms  friends,  in  various 
parts  of  the  country,  to  publish  the  whole,  as  he  now  does,  in  a 
separate  volume. 

In  preparing  these  lectures  for  a  re-publication,  numerous 
slight  corrections,  one  or  two  transpositions  of  parts,  and  a 
few  retrenchments,  have  been  made;  but  nothing  has  been  done 
to  change  the  genera-l  cast  of  the  composition,  or  to  alter  a  sin- 
gle feature  of  the  doctrine  taught.  Indeed,  the  author  has 
been  tempted  to  flatter  himself,  from  the  favourable  reception 
his  humble  labours  have  met  with,  that  the  manner  in  which  he 
has  treated  the  subjects  discussed  is  better  adapted  to  popular 
use,  than  one  more  formally  systematick,  or  more  purely  argu- 
mentative. It  had  been  easy  to  change  or  omit  a  few  sentences, 
which  refer  to  circumstances  peculiar  to  the  audience  address- 
ed. But  these  sentences  serve  to  sustain  the  general  charac- 
ter of  the  lectures,  and  they  in  no  degree  interfere  with  the 
scope  of  the  discourse.  They  have,  therefore,  for  the  most 
part,  been  permitted  to  stand  as  they  were  originally  penned 
and  uttered. 

The  author  hopes  it  will  be  found,  by  the  attentive  reader  of 
this  small  volume,  that  the  radical  principles  and  distinguish- 
ing doctrines  of  evangelical  truth,  as  exhibited  in  the  Calvinis- 
tick  system,  are  as  fully  set  forth,  defended,  and  illustrated,  as 


PREFACE.  V« 

could  reasonably  be  expected,  in  the  limits  to  which  he  was  con- 
fined. He  is  aware,  indeed,  that  short  as  his  lectures  are, 
they  contain  a  measure  of  repetition ;  yet  he  hopes  it  is  not 
much  larger  than  will  be  found  really  useful.  It  scarcely 
needs  to  be  remarked,  that  the  same  texts  of  scripture  are 
often  pertinent,  and  even  the  most  pertinent,  to  prove  several 
different  points  of  doctrine;  that  the  same  inferences,  or  con- 
sequences, too,  may  follow  from  several  premises  or  positions; 
and  that  the  same  application  or  appeal  may,  and  frequent- 
ly ought  to  be  made,  from  various  leading  truths  of  Holy 
Scripture.  Unnecessary  repetition  ought  certainly  to  be  avoid- 
ed, and  when  that  which  is  allowable  is  admitted,  the  phrase- 
ology may  often  be  varied.  But  to  exclude  all  repetition, 
would  frequently  deprive  an  address  of  much  of  its  spirit,  and 
the  hearer  of  much  that  would  have  been  best  calculated  to 
further  his  edification.  Sometimes  it  saves  the  hearer  or 
reader  the  time  and  trouble  of  making  a  reference  for  himself; 
and  sometimes  it  is  really  necessary,  to  place  in  immediate 
view  the  ground  of  an  argument  or  deduction,  that  the  truth 
may  strike  with  the  greater  force. 

It  has  been  gratifying  to  the  author  to  learn,  that  several 
teachers  of  Sabbath  schools  in  the  Presbyterian  church,  have 
had  recourse  to  his  lectures,  as  they  appear  in  the  Christian 
Advocate,  to  enable  them  to  explain  to  their  pupils,  with  ease 
and  advantage,  the  answers  to  the  questions  in  their  Shorter 
Catechism.  He  regards  this  as  an  honour  done  to  his  work, 
and  desires  to  be  thankful  to  God  that  his  labours,  from  this 
circumstance,  promise  to  become  more  extensively  useful  than 
he  had  ventured  to  anticipate.  The  present  volume  will  ren- 
der a  recurrence  to  the  needed  aid,  far  easier  and  more  expedi- 
tious, than  when  it  was  to  be  searched  for  in  a  monthly  mis- 


VIU  PREFACE. 

cellany.  In  this  connexion,  let  the  author  be  permitted  to  say, 
that  while  he  yields  to  none  in  the  estimate  which  he  makes  of 
the  high  value  of  Sabbath  schools,  and  of  the  knowledge  of  the 
sacred  Scriptures  imparted  to  children  and  youth  in  these  insti- 
^tutions,  and  in  Bible  classes,  he  has  ever  been  of  the  opinion — 
and  his  own  practice  has  uniformly  accorded  with  that  opin- 
ion— tliat  a  thorough  acquaintance  with  the  Shorter  Catechism 
should  form  an  indispensable  part  of  the  system.  It  is  of 
more  importance  than  can  easily  be  told,  that  the  doctrines  and 
duties  taught  in  the  sacred  volume  should  be  digested,  and  re- 
duced to  system  in  the  minds  of  youth :  and  for  this  purpose, 
nothing  can  be  better  adapted  than  the  Shorter  Catechism,  if 
it  be  suitably  explained  and  correctly  understood. 

It  will  probably  be  asked,  why  the  author  has  published  lec- 
tures on  a  part  only  of  the  Catechism — why  he  has  not  extend- 
ed them  to  the  whole,  and  given  the  entire  system  at  once? 
The  short  and  plain  answer  to  this  inquiry  is,  that  the  author 
has  not  yet  prepared  the  whole  of  his  lectures  on  the  remain- 
ing part  of  the  Catechism — They  are  in  a  train  of  prepara- 
tion, and  some  of  them  have  been  already  published  in  the 
Christian  Advocate,  but  the  series  is  not  yet  completed.  In  that 
Miscellany,  if  life  and  health  be  continued,  it  is  proposed  to  in- 
sert the  remainder,  and  then  to  publish  them  connectedly  in  a 
second  volume.  All  the  lectures  to  which  this  preface  is  pre- 
fixed were  actually  delivered,  as  has  been  stated,  to  the  youth 
of  the  author's  pastoral  charge.^  None  of  the  others  have  been, 
nor  probably  mil  ever  be,  delivered  orally  5  although  it  is  in- 

*  Tfie  author's  call  to  the  presidency  of  the  College  of  New  Jersey,  pre- 
vented the  continuance  of  his  lectures  on  the  Catechism,  till  he  had  gone 
through  the  whole.  Since  his  return  to  Philadelphia,  he  has,  at  the  urgent 
request  of  some  of  those  who  first  heard  them,  repeated  in  publick,  the  most 
of  those  which  compose  the  present  volume. 


PREFACE.  ix 

tended  to  continue  the  same  style  of  address,  through  the  re- 
mainder of  the  course.  It  is  not  unusual  for  authors  to  pub- 
lish a  part  of  a  work  which  they  have  in  hand,  before  the  whole 
is  completed  5  and  if,  in  the  present  instance,  an  apology  were 
necessary,  it  might  be  found  in  the  circumstance,  that  this 
volume  contains  all  the  leading  doctrines  of  the  Catechism. 
The  essential  articles  of  Faith  and  Repentance  are,  indeed,  not 
formally  discussed ;  because  they  occupy  a  place  in  the  Cate- 
chism, more  advanced  than  that  at  which  these  lectures  termi- 
nated. But  those  important  articles  have  been  realhj  and  in 
substance  considered,  in  speaking  of  effectual  calling,  justifica- 
tion, adoption,  and  sanctification ;  since  of  these  it  was  not 
practicable  to  treat  properly,  without  explaining  the  nature 
and  use  of  true  repentance  and  saving  faith.  The  present  vo- 
lume therefore  may,  in  a  certain  sense,  be  considered  as  a 
whole,  although  the  author  should  be  disappointed  in  his  hopes 
of  publishing  a  second. 

In  concluding  this  preface,  tlie  author  will  use  the  freedom 
to  say  to  his  youthful  reader, — and  to  every  reader  who  will 
receive  the  intimation  without  offence — that  if  he  desires  to 
derive  practical  and  lasting  benefit  from  these  lectures,  they 
should  be  read  and  meditated  upon  singltj,  with  a  candid,  se- 
rious, and  special  attention  to  the  remarks  and  appeals,  with 
which  the  most  of  them  are  concluded.  To  read  the  volume 
through  rapidly,  may  possibly  gratify  curiosity,  and  furnisli 
scope  for  criticism.  But  the  great  concern  of  the  author  is, 
that  his  lectures  may  serve  a  very  different  and  far  better 
purpose.  He  would  therefore  respectfully  recommend,  that 
if  the  whole  be  read  cursorily,  each  one  should  be  afterwards 
perused  by  itself;  that  is,  one  only  at  a  sitting — for  the  pur- 
pose of  reflecting  deliberately  on  the  doctrine  explained,  and 


X  TREFACE. 

especially  of  making  its  application  close  and  personal.  This 
personal  application  is  of  infinitely  more  importance  than  any 
mere  doctrinal  knowledge,  however  accurate.  And  if  the 
reader  will  consent  to  take  the  course  here  recommended,  and 
will  accompany  his  other  exercises  with  fervent  prayer  for  the 
divine  blessing,  it  may  be  hoped  that  he  will  receive  a  perma- 
nent— even  an  eternal  benefit.  That  this  result  may  be  real- 
ized in  numerous  instances,  is  and  shall  be,  the  subject  of  the 
authoi^s  earnest  supplications  to  that  throne  of  heavenly 
grace,  from  which  all  sanctifying  and  saving  influences  must 
proceed. 


CONTENTS. 


LECTURE  I. 
Introductory  page  1 

LECTURE  II 
What  is  the  chief  end  of  Man?      .  .  .20 

LECTURE  III. 
What  rule  hath  God  given  to  direct  us  how  we  may  glorify  and  enjoy 
him?       .........      40 

LECTURE  IV. 
The  subject  continued  .55 

LECTURE  V. 
What  do  the  Scriptures  principally  teach?  .79 

LECTURE  VI 

What  is  God?  .....      92 

LECTURE  VII. 
The  subject  continued  .....    109 

LECTURE  VIII. 

Are  there  more  Gods  than  one?    How  many  Persons  are  there  in  the 
Godhead? .121 

LECTURE  IX. 
The  second  subject  of  the  former  lecture  continued  137 

LECTURE  X. 
What  are  the  decrees  of  God  ?.....    152 

LECTURE  XI. 

The  subject  of  the  former  lecture  continued.    How  doth  God  execute 
his  decrees  ?  What  is  the  work  of  creation  ?  ...     167 

LECTURE  XH. 

How  did  God  create  Man?  179 

LECTURE  XIII 
What  are  God's  works  of  Providence  ?      .  .    192 

LECTURE  XIV 
What  special  act  of  Providence  did  God  exercise  toward  Man  in  the 
state  wherein  he  was  created  ?  204 

LECTURE  XV. 

Did  our  first  Parents  continue  in  the  state  wherein  they  were  created  ?      217 

LECTURE  XVI. 

What  is  sin  ?    What  was  the  sin  wheroby  our  first  Parents  fell  from  the 
state  wherein  they  were  created  ?  227 


Xll  CONTENTS. 

LECTURE  XVll. 
Did  all  Mankind  fall  in  Adam's  first  transgression  ?  page  238 

LECTURE  XVIII. 
Into  what  estate  did  the  fall  bring  Mankind  ?    Wherein  consists  the  sin- 
fuhiess  of  that  estate  whereinto  Man  fell  ?     What  is  the  misery  of 
that  estate  whereinto  Man  fell  ?  .  .  .  .  .249 

LECTURE  XIX. 

Did  God  leave  all  Mankind  to  perish  in  the  state  of  sin  and  misery  t  251) 

LECTURE  XX. 
Who  is  the  Redeemer  of  God's  elect .?    How  did  Christ  the  Son  of  God 

become  Man }  .......     273 

LECTURE  XXI. 

What  offices  doth  Christ  execute  as  our  Redeemer  ^    How  doth  Christ 

execute  the  office  of  a  Prophet.?  .....     287 

LECTURE  XXII. 

How  doth  Christ  execute  the  office  of  a  Priest .?  2<J7 

LECTURE  XXIII. 
How  doth  Christ  execute  the  office  of  a  King .?     .  310 

LECTURE  XXIV 
Wherein  did  Christ's  humiliation  consist .?  319 

LECTURE  XXV. 
Wherein  consists  Christ's  exaltation .?       .  .  .    332 

LECTURE  XXVI. 
The  subject  continued         ....  337 

LECTURE  XXVII. 
How  are  we  made  partakers  of  the  redemption  purchased  by  Christ  i 
How  doth  the  Spirit  apply  to  us  the  redemption  purchased  by  Clirist  ? 
What  is  effectual  calling .?......     34t» 

LECTURE  XXVIII. 

What  benefits  do  they  that  are  effectually  called  partake  of  in  this  life  ? 

What  is  justification .?     ......  359 

LECTURE  XXIX. 

What  is  adoption  ?  .......    371 

LECTURE  XXX. 
What  is  sanctification .?       .  .  .  .  378 

LECTURE  XXXI. 
What  are  the  benefits  which  in  this  life  do  accompany  or  flow  from  jus- 
tification, adoption,  and  sanctification .?  .  .  .  384 

LECTURE  XXXII. 
What  benefits  do  believers  receive  from  Christ  at  death  ?  .  395 

LECTURE  XXXIII. 
What  benefits  do  believers  receive  from  Christ  at  the  resurrection  ?  405 


LECTURES 


SHORTER  CATECHISM. 


LECTURE  I. 

INTRODUCTORY. 

Friends  and  Brethren,— 

It  is  with  peculiar  pleasure  that  I  meet  you  on  this  occasion. 
I  meet  you  to  enter  on  a  service  intended  for  the  benefit  of 
the  young — a  service  which  I  have  always  considered  as  one 
of  the  most  important,  and  which  I  have  certainly  found  one 
of  the  most  delightful,  among  all  the  duties  of  the  ministerial 
vocation. 

The  discussions  on  which  we  are  entering  will  be  freely 
open  to  those  of  every  age,  who  may  choose  to  attend  them. 
But  it  will  be  distinctly  kept  in  mind,  that  they  are  specially 
intended  for  youth,  and  will  be  addressed  to  them  alone.  It 
is  my  earnest  wish  that  the  young  may  consider  themselves 
as  the  parties  to  whom  I  directly  speak — speak  with  a  view 
to  explain,  defend  and  inculcate  those  great  doctrines  of  our 
holy  religion  with  which  they  are  supposed  to  have  already 
some  acquaintance,  and  on  a  practical  regard  to  which  the 
salvation  of  their  souls  depends.  There  is,  moreover,  a  cer- 
tain method  of  treatment  and  style  of  address,  which  are  pro- 
per when  subjects  are  discussed  for  the  special  benefit  of  the 
young,  which  would  not  be  equally  proper,  if  those  of  more 
advanced  age  were  included  with  them  in  the  views  of  the 
speaker.  These  lectures  are  not  to  be  profound  and  abstruse 
theological  disquisitions.     It  is,  indeed,  an  important  part  of 


2  LECTURES  ON  THE 

their  design,  to  enable  every  attentive  hearer  to  judge  of  the 
soundness  and  scriptural  evidence  of  the  doctrines  of  our  Ca- 
techism, so  as  to  be  able  to  give  a  reason  for  his  Christian 
faith  and  hope.  But  the  lectures  require  to  be  of  a  popular 
character — in  manner  affectionate  and  tender — the  manner 
which  should  characterize  all  religious  addresses  to  the  young 
• — and  directed,  throughout,  to  a  practical  application  of  the 
truth  illustrated. 

It  cannot  be  unknown  to  the  mostof  you,  my  young  friends, 
that  objections  have  been  made  and  strenuously  urged,  against 
the  propriety  of  the  whole  proceeding  on  which  we  are  now 
entering.  It  is  proper  for  my  own  justification,  therefore,  to 
show  that  these  objections  are  unfounded;  and  proper  to  en- 
deavour to  remove  them  from  your  minds,  if  they  have  an 
existence  there;  or  if  they  have  not,  to  enable  you  to  answer 
them  satisfactorily,  when  you  meet  with  them,  as  you  proba- 
bly will,  in  reading  or  conversation.  The  remainder  of  this 
lecture,  then,  shall  be  employed  in  stating  and  obviating  the 
objections  to  which  I  have  alluded;  in  showing  the  design 
and  usefulness  of  publick  creeds  and  catechisms;  and  in  giving 
a  very  brief  account  of  the  origin  of  our  Shorter  Catechism, 
together  with  a  few  remarks  of  a  practical  import. 

There  are,  I  think,  three  objections  to  such  a  system  of  in- 
struction as  that  which  I  propose  to  give,  and  wish  you  to  re- 
ceive. The  objections,  indeed,  involve  each  other,  but  we 
will  consider  them  separately. 

^\\^  first  is,  that  the  human  mind  pught  not  to  be  preoccu- 
pied and  biassed,  by  being  taught  the  principles  of  any  reli- 
gious creed  or  system  whatsoever,  but  be  left  perfectly  free 
and  unprejudiced;  that  it  may,  at  a  proper  time,  impartially 
judge  and  adopt  for  itself,  those  religious  tenets  which  shall 
appear  most  rational,  and  free  from  error.  It  is  my  wish  to 
state  the  objection  in  all  its  strength,  and  so  stated  it  may 
seem  specious.  But,  to  my  apprehension,  it  is  so  far  from 
being  solid  and  conclusive,  that  I  must  say,  I  think  no  objec- 
tion was  ever  more  fallacious  and  unfounded  than  this.  It 
seems  to  me  that  it  is  made  in  direct  opposition  to  some  of  the 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  S 

plainest  laws  and  indications  of  our  nature.     Nothing  can  be 
more  evident  than  that  it  is  the  appointment  of  the  Creator — 
with  which  it  is  equally  useless  and  impious  to  contend — that 
the  condition  of  children,  especially  in  early  life,  shall  be 
almost  identified  with  that  of  their  parents.     The  previous 
condition  of  parents  usually  decides  whether  children  shall 
be  born  with  a  sickly,  or  with  a  healthful  constitution;  with, 
or  without,  a  tendency  to  hereditary  disease;  whether  the  na- 
tural disposition  shall  be  benignant  or  irascible  ;  whether  they 
shall  exist  in  savage  or  in  civilized  society;  whether  they 
shall  be  bond  or  free;  whether  they  shall  be  rich  or  poor; 
whether  they  shall  be  instructed  or  remain  in  ignorance;  whe- 
ther they  shall  be  brought  up  in  virtue  or  in  vice;  whether 
they  shall  be  Pagans,  Christians,  Jews,  or  Mahometans.     In 
all  these  respects,  parents  and  children  are  linked  together, 
by  the  appointment  of  the  Creator ;  and  quarrel  with  the  ap- 
pointment as  we  may,  we  can  neither  deny  it,  nor  change  it. 
The  proper  use  to  be  made  of  the  unquestionable  fact,  I  shall 
hereafter  notice.     I  thus  state  and  dilate  upon  it  a  little,  be- 
cause it  is,  on  several  accounts,  important  to  be  observed  and 
remembered;  as  well  as  because  it  is  closely  connected  with 
the  proper  answer  to  the  objection  before  us.     It  shows  in- 
controvertibly,  that  parents  must,  in  all  respects,  have  much 
to  do  with  forming  the  minds  of  their  children.     Man,  in- 
deed, as  all  the  moral  writers  on  this  subject  observe,  is  evi- 
dently intended  by  his  Maker,  to  owe  the  development  and 
improvement  of  all  his  powers,  to  instruction  and  imitation; 
and  not,  like  the  brutes,  to  instinct.     Brutes  reach  the  per- 
fection of  their  natures,  chiefly  from  instinctive  propensities; 
and  hence,  many  of  them  would  really  be  far  superior  to  man 
without    instruction — if,    indeed,    without   instruction,   man 
could  even  reach  the  age  of  maturity.     And  shall  the  human 
mind  be,  at  first,  almost  wholly  indebted  to  parental  instruc- 
tion for  information  on  every  other  subject,  and 'be  left  en- 
tirely without  it  on  the  most  important  of  all  subjects — the 
subject  of  religion — the  knowledge  of  God  and  of  our  duty 
to  him? — knowledge,  too,  which  we  originally  receive,  in 


4  LECTURES  ON  THE 

a  great  measure,  from  express  revelation;  and  which  there- 
fore can  never  be  possessed  unless  it  be  communicated?  Shall 
nothing  be  said  to  children  on  this  subject?  Judge  for  your- 
selves, if  any  thing  can  be  more  preposterous.  And  if  you 
begin  to  teach,  how  much  will  you  teach,  and  where  will 
you  stop?  Will  you  not  be  willing  to  teach  all  that  you  know? 
Ought  you  not  to  do  so?  Can  you  often,  or  easily  avoid  it — 
unless  you  refuse  to  answer  the  inquiries  which  children 
make? 

Consider  likewise  what  would  be  the  effect,  in  the  matter 
o^ prejudice y  of  refusing  to  teach  children  the  principles  and 
duties  of  religion.  Would  they,  if  in  this  matter  left  to  them- 
selves, really  grow  up  without  any  prepossessions,  in  regard 
to  this  momentous  subject?  By  no  means.  They  would,  on 
the  contrary— and  facts  prove  it— either  contract  a  total  indif- 
ference or  contempt  for  all  religion,  or  else  acquire  the  most 
false  and  pernicious  notions — fortified,  it  is  probable,  by  the 
strongest  prejudices.  This  is  probable,  because  we  are  apt  to 
be  more  attached  to  opinions  which  we  have  elaborated  for 
ourselves,  than  to  those  which  we  have  received  from  others; 
especially  if  our  minds  have  been  puffed  up  with  the  belief 
that,  on  a  given  subject,  we  are  fully  competent  to  be  our  own 
teachers,  and  that  to  be  so  is  to  be  spirited  and  magnanimous. 

On  the  whole,  the  objection  rests  on  an  assumption  which 
is  entirely  and  manifestly  false — the  assumption  that  the  hu- 
man mind  can  best  guide  itself,  in  acquiring  religious  know- 
ledge and  principles;  and  that  it  will  be  less  prejudiced  and 
more  likely  to  judge  correctly,  if  left  without  instruction,  than 
if  instruction  be  imparted.  The  objection  we  consider  is, 
moreover,  diametrically  opposed  to  the  inspired  precept  of 
the  wisest  of  men — "  Train  up  a  child  in  the  way  he  should 
go,  and  when  he  is  old  he  will  not  depart  from  it."  In  like 
manner,  it  contravenes  what  St.  Paul  mentions,  with  decisive 
approbation,  as  the  method  of  Timothy's  education — that 
"  from  a  child  he  had  known  the  holy  scriptures."  And  let 
not  what  the  apostle  immediately  adds  be  forgotten — that  these 
scriptures  ''  are  able  to  make  thee  wise  unto  salvation,  through 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  5 

faith  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus."  Blessed  he  God,  we  have 
some  unequivocal  examples  of  the  most  amiable  practical 
piety,  in  children  at  a  very  early  age — at  an  age  at  which 
those  who  advocate  this  objection  would  think  it  too  early  for 
children  to  think  of  religion  at  all.  And  can  Christian  pa- 
rents, who  know  the  worth  of  the  soul,  see  their  children  live 
to  this  age,  or  know  that  they  may  die  before  they  reach  it, 
and  yet  not  give  them  any  just  notions  of  God,  and  the  way 
of  salvation  through  a  Redeemer  ?  The  thought  is  intolerable. 
It  ought  not  to  be  endured  for  a  moment. 

Doubtless,  parents  and  other  teachers  should,  as  far  and  as 
fast  as  children  can  understand  the  reason  of  what  they  teach, 
give  a  reason  for  all  they  inculcate — The  present  course  of  lec- 
tures is  delivered  with  this  very  design.  Doubtless,  also, 
youth  ought,  with  suitable  modesty  and  diffidence,  to  reason 
for  themselves;  and  to  this,  my  young  friends,  I  earnestly  in- 
vite you,  in  your  attendance  on  all  that  I  deliver.  Hear  what 
is  said  with  candour  and  attention  ;  ask  of  the  Father  of  lights 
to  guide  and  counsel  you;  and  acting  thus,  judge  for  your- 
selves— remembering  always  that,  at  the  tribunal  of  your  final 
Judge,  you  must  answer  for  yourselves. 

But  from  what  has  been  said  on  this  objection,  it  certainly 
does  follow,  that  parents  have  a  high  and  awful  responsibility, 
in  regard  to  the  religious  instruction  and  education  of  their 
children.  As  children  must  derive  their  religious  knowledge 
and  opinions  from  their  parents,  or  if  not  instructed,  imbibe 
bad  and  perhaps  ruinous  sentiments,  how  careful  and  how  anx- 
ious should  parents  be,  that  they  neither  neglect  to  teach  their 
offspring,  nor  teach  them  any  thing  that  is  not  true  and  useful. 
Every  Christian  parent  should  keep  constantly  in  mind,  that 
the  eternal  welfare  of  his  children,  as  well  as  their  present 
happiness,  may  depend  on  the  religious  and  moral  instruction 
which  they  receive  in  their  early  years — never  forgetting, 
that  example  teaches  even  more  powerfully  than  precept ;  and 
that  without  example  all  precepts  will  probably  be  of  little 
avail. 

Children  and  youth  should^  also,  recollect  that  they  have 


b  LECTURES  ON  THE 

cause  for  the  liveliest  gratitude  to  the  God  of  providence,  for 
giving  them  their  existence  in  a  Christian  country,  and  grant- 
ing them  the  privilege  and  benefit  of  a  Christian  education — 
an  early  instruction  in  the  doctrines  of  divine  revelation. 
This  is  the  use,  to  which  I  have  alluded,  that  they  ought  to 
make  of  the  fact,  that  the  destinies  of  children  are  closely  con- 
nected with  those  of  their  parents.  Guard,  my  young  friends, 
against  cavilling  at  the  divine  appointment  in  this  respect; 
guard  against  perplexing  your  minds  with  deep  and  subtle 
questions  on  this  subject;  for  they  lead  to  nothing  but  doubt, 
and  scepticism,  and  perhaps  to  atheism  at  last.  One  thing  is 
clear — yours  is  a  happy  lot,  which  calls  for  gratitude  and  im- 
provement. Leave  to  God,  who  you  know  can  do  no  wrong, 
the  order  of  his  own  government;  the  disposal  of  his  own  crea- 
tures, and  of  all  that  concerns  them.  For  yourselves,  be  thank- 
ful to  him,  that  you  have  been  born  of  Christian  parents,  who 
have  early  taught  you  the  knowledge  of  your  Maker  and  Re- 
deemer. Count  it  among  your  richest  blessings,  that  from 
the  very  dawn  of  reason,  your  minds  received  information  in 
regard  to  the  things  that  belong  to  your  everlasting  peace; 
and  that  your  pious  parents  or  friends  have  been  constantly 
endeavouring,  by  their  counsels,  their  prayers,  and  their  ex- 
ample, to  form  you  to  piety,  and  to  lead  you  to  heaven. 
While  your  sympathies  are  awakened  for  the  heathen  and  the 
uninstructed,  fail  not  to  recollect  that  your  responsibility  is 
infinitely  greater  than  theirs;  and  that  if  you  perish,  amidst 
all  the  light  and  religious  advantages  which  you  enjoy,  your 
perdition  will  be  inconceivably  more  dreadful  than  that  which 
you  deprecate  for  them.  Towards  those  who  have  not  had  a 
birth  so  propitious,  and  privileges  so  distinguished  as  yours, 
cultivate  by  all  means,  the  compassion  and  benevolence  which 
the  gospel  enjoins.  This  comprises  your  duty  to  them.  Join 
heartily  and  actively  in  all  plans  and  endeavours  to  instruct 
the  ignorant,  to  reclaim  the  vicious,  and  to  send  the  gospel  to 
those  who  have  not  yet  heard  the  name  of  a  Saviour. 

The  second  objection  which  I  propose  to  notice  is,  that  in 
teaching  and  learning  a  catechism,  and  by  making  the  answers 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.      .  7 

in  that  catechism  the  text  of  lectures,  we  substitute  a  human 
composition  for  the  holy  scriptures — nay,  that  we  even  set 
the  words  of  men  above  the  word  of  God.  This  objection, 
like  the  former,  rests,  we  are  confident,  entirely  on  a  false  as- 
sumption. And  if  those  who  urge  the  objection  do  not  know 
that  the  assumption  is  false — as  we  would  fain  believe  they 
do  not — they  must,  at  least,  be  chargeable  with  great  igno- 
rance. They  could  not  read  even  the  second  answer  of  the 
catechism  on  which  I  am  to  lecture,  without  seeing  that  a 
fundamental  point  which  we  are  to  maintain  is,  that  nothing 
has  any  authority  in  religion  but  the  revealed  will  of  God — 
**  That  the  word  of  God,  contained  in  the  scriptures  of  the 
Old  and  New  Testament,  is  the  only  rule  to  direct  us  how 
we  may  glorify  and  enjoy  him.^^  It  would  be  strange  indeed, 
if  in  the  very  act  of  teaching  that  the  scriptures  are  the  only 
rule  of  faith  and  practice,  we  should  set  up  another  and  a 
superior  rule,  in  their  place.  No,  my  young  friends,  it  is  no 
doctrine  of  our  church,  nor  of  any  member  of  it  ever  known 
to  me,  that  its  Confession  of  Faith  and  Catechisms  are  supe- 
rior to  the  Bible,  or  that  they  make  any  addition  to  it,  or  are 
any  thing  without  it.  On  the  contrary,  not  only  in  the  an- 
swer I  have  recited,  but  in  various  other  places,  they  teach 
and  inculcate  that  the  scriptures  alone  are  to  be  considered  as 
authoritative,  in  all  that  relates  to  religion,  and  in  all  that  is 
binding  on  conscience.  No  men  that  ever  lived  were  more 
strenuous  advocates  for  these  sentiments,  than  those  who 
formed  our  religious  standards.  Hence  they  took  care  to  have 
that  done,  which  has  not  been  done  by  some  other  Christian 
communions — I  mean,  that  the  scripture  proofs  should  be 
added,  point  by  point,  to  every  clause  of  their  Confession  and 
Catechisms;  that  it  might  be  seen  that  the  whole  rested,  as 
they  believed,  on  the  word  of  God;  and  to  enable  every 
reader  to  see  and  judge  for  himself,  whether  the  doctrines 
they  laid  down  were  not  supported  by  a  clear  scriptural  war- 
rant. And  I  take  this  opportunity  to  say  to  you  distinctly, 
that  you  ought  to  compare  all  that  you  will  hear  from  me, 
carefully  and  candidly,  with  the  word  of  God.     I  shall  endea- 


8  LECTURES  ON  THE 

vour  to  give  you  plain  scriptural  proof  for  the  doctrines  I  teach. 
But  judge  of  my  quotations  from  the  scripture  yourselves.  If 
they  do  not  amount  to  proof,  let  what  I  say,  as  grounded  on 
them,  stand  for  nothing.  But  if  they  amount  to  proof,  then 
remember,  that  the  doctrine  is  not  mine,  but  that  of  our  com- 
mon Lord  and  Master,  which  none  of  us  can  reject  but  at  our 
peril.  It  would  be  perfectly  practicable  for  me  to  take  plain 
passages  of  scripture,  as  texts  for  all  that  I  propose  to  say; 
and  then  to  give  the  answer  in  the  Catechism,  as  the  expres- 
sion of  the  doctrinal  truth  of  those  texts,  and  proceed  to  dis- 
course upon  it  accordingly.  This  is  a  method  which  has 
been,  I  think,  adopted  by  some,  and  has  been  matter  of  deli- 
beration with  myself.  But  on  the  whole,  it  seems  to  me  a 
method  by  far  the  most  natural,  brief,  and  easy,  to  state  the 
doctrine  or  proposition,  in  the  first  place,  and  then  to  allege 
the  proofs  from  scripture,  for  the  several  parts  of  it  in  detail. 
This  is  certainly  not  a  method  inconsistent  with  fair  and  con- 
clusive reasoning.  It  is  a  method  precisely  similar  to  this, 
which  is  pursued  in  all  mathematical  demonstrations.  It  is 
also  the  very  method  adopted  in  our  courts  of  justice;  where 
the  advocate  first  states  what  he  expects  to  prove,  then  brings 
forward  and  examines  his  evidence,  and  afterwards  reasons  to 
show  that  the  evidence  adduced  has  established  his  position. 
In  a  word,  when  it  is  admitted  on  all  hands,  as  in  the  case  be- 
fore us,  that  the  doctrine  and  the  scriptural  proof  must  go  to- 
gether, it  would  seem  to  be  a  very  cavilling  spirit,  which 
makes  it  matter  of  ofience,  or  objection,  that  the  proof  is  not 
stated  before  the  doctrine,  rather  than  the  doctrine  before  the 
proof. 

The  framers  of  our  Catechism  unquestionably  had  texts  of 
scripture  directly  in  view,  in  every  answer  they  formed;  and 
from  a  careful  consideration  of  those  texts  they  framed  the 
answer — exactly  as  a  preacher  now  raises  a  doctrine  from  the 
text  which  he  reads.  We  only  take  the  reverse  order,  and 
first  repeat  the  doctrine,  and  then  support  it  by  the  texts. 
But  the  truth  is,  that  those  who  contend  with  us  here  rely- 
chiefly  on  a — 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  9 

Third  objection,  which  is,  that  no  creed  or  catechism  ought 
to  be  formed,  or  taught,  or  explained,  but  what  consists  of  the 
very  words  of  scripture.  This  it  is  supposed  is  strong  ground, 
which  those  who  take  believe  they  can  maintain  against  all 
opposition.  We  think  otherwise,  and  are  prepared  to  assign 
our  reasons  for  believing  it  right,  that  every  Christian  deno- 
mination should  have  a  formula  of  faith,  expressed,  generally, 
in  different  words  from  those  of  the  sacred  text.  For  this  we 
think  it  a  sufficient  reason,  that  such  a  formula  as  we  contem- 
plate— such  as  our  Catechism  is  in  fact — is  favourable  to  har- 
mony, order  and  peace,  among  those  who  endeavour  to  walk 
together  in  Christian  fellowship;  and  that  it  does,  in  fact,  no 
more  than  secure — as  far  as  it  can  be  secured — the  right  which 
every  Christian  possesses,  to  know  whether  his  brother  holds 
what  he  esteems  the  fundamental  truths  of  Christianity;  and, 
of  course,  whether  there  can  be  real  communion  or  fellowship 
between  them,  or  not. 

Every  sect  that  bears  the  Christian  name  professes  to  take 
the  scriptures  as  the  rule  of  faith,  and  to  derive  its  religious 
tenets  from  them.  And  could  a  community,  I  ask,  formed 
out  of  all  these  sects,  walk  together  in  Christian  fellowship 
and  church  order?  The  thing,  as  I  apprehend,  is  absolutely 
impossible;  because  in  instances  not  a  few,  a  part  of  this  com- 
munity would  maintain  as  essential  truths  and  duties,  what 
another  part  would  strenuously  oppose,  as  the  grossest  error 
and  the  most  abominable  impiety.  A  Roman  Catholick,  for 
example,  would  hold  communion  with  none  who  denied,  that 
the  sacramental  elements,  after  consecration,  become  the'real 
body  and  blood  of  Christ;  and  the  Protestant,  to  say  the  least, 
would  not  choose  to  commune  with  any  one  who  maintain- 
ed this  tenet.  The  Trinitarian  would  insist  on  paying  divine 
honours  to  his  Saviour;  and  the  Unitarian  would  denounce 
this  as  idolatry.  The  orthodox  would  contend  that  the  atone- 
ment of  Christ  is  the  only  safe  reliance  of  a  sinner  for  accept- 
ance with  God;  and  in  this  he  would  be  contradicted  by 
those  who  reject  the  doctrine  of  atonement  as  one  of  the 
worst  corruptions  of  Christianity.     One  party  would  be  zea- 

B 


10  LECTURES  ON  THE 

lous  for  the  baptism  of  its  infant  offspring;  and  another  as  zea- 
lous in  opposing  it.  One  section  of  this  strange  community 
would  insist  that  no  ordinances  were  valid,  which  were  not 
administered  by  men  tracing  their  authority  in  a  direct  suc- 
cession from  the  apostles;  and  another  would  assert  that  the 
ascertaining  of  such  a  succession  was  altogether  absurd  and 
impossible. 

It  seems  to  me,  that  not  one  of  the  parties  concerned  could 
be  happy  or  contented,  in  such  a  connexion.  If  any  could,  it 
is  certain  that  those  could  not  who  hold — as  many  do  hold — 
that  they  cannot,  and  ought  not  to  receive  to  Christian  commu- 
nion, or  recognise  as  Christians  at  all,  those  who  reject  what 
they  believe  to  be  the  fundamentals  of  religion.  To  say  that 
this  is  mere  narrowness  and  bigotry,  is  to  take  for  granted  the 
whole  matter  in  dispute.  The  opposite  party  maintain  that 
they  are  bound  "  to  contend  earnestly  for  the  faith  on-ce  de- 
livered to  the  saints,"  and  that  they  do  no  more  than  this,  in 
refusing  communion  with  those  who  are  known  to  hold  radical 
and  ruinous  errors.  There  must  be,  then,  some  mutual  under- 
standing among  the  members  of  a  religious  communion,  as  to 
the  manner  in  which  they  interpret  the  language,  and  receive 
the  doctrines  and  ordinances  of  revelation.  Accordingly,  there 
is  not,  so  far  as  my  knowledge  extends,  a  religious  sect  in 
Christendom,  the  existing  members  of  which  do  not,  in  some 
form  or  other,  take  measures  to  ascertain  whether  an  indivi- 
dual, hitherto  a  stranger,  and  now  proposing  to  become  one  of 
their  number,  hoJds  those  things  which  they  deem  essential 
to  Itis  being  a  good  and  profitable  member  of  their  commu- 
nity. They  satisfy  themselves  of  this,  at  least  before  they  ad- 
mit him  to  «// the  rights,  privileges,  and  influence,  of  com- 
plete membership.  This  is  effected,  in  some  communions,  by 
each  individual,  before  partaking  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  giving 
a  statement,  either  verbally  or  in  writing,  of  the  leading  arti- 
cles of  his  belief,  and  his  views  of  a  Christian  profession  ;  of 
which  his  brethren  judge,  and  receive  or  reject  him  accord- 
ingly. But  this,  you  perceive  at  once,  is  no  more  than  re- 
quiring every  individual  to  make  a  Confession  of  Faith  for 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  11 

himself.  We  think  it  far  preferable  to  have  one  that  has  been 
drawn  up,  with  the  greatest  deliberation,  by  men  of  eminent 
ability  and  piety — which  every  one  may  examine  at  his  lei- 
sure, and  before  he  adopts  it,  weigh  every  part  of  it  with  the 
utmost  care.  As  to  forcing  this  creed  on  those  who  dislike  it, 
none  are  more  opposed  to  it  than  the  members  of  our  church; 
and  none  do  more  sincerely  rejoice,  that  we  live  in  a  country 
where  no  civil  pains  or  penalties  can  be  inflicted  for  refusing 
any  creed  whatsoever.  At  the  same  time,  we  do  regard  it  as 
utterly  unbecoming  the  spirit  of  a  man  and  of  a  Christian,  for 
any  individual  to  disguise  his  religious  opinions,  and  by  so 
doing  to  obtain  a  standing  in  our  church  ;  or  to  retain  a  stand- 
ing and  influence  already  acquired,  when  he  is  conscious  that 
he  is  decidedly  hostile  to  some  of  the  leading  articles  of  our 
faith  and  ecclesiastical  order.  In  a  word,  then,  our  Cate- 
chisms and  Confession  of  Faith  are  intended  to  declare  the 
manner  in  which  we  understand  the  scriptures — a  declaration 
which  every  church  has  certainly  a  right  to  make — which  we 
have  seen  must  be  made,  and  is  in  fact  made,  in  some  way  or 
other,  by  all  religious  denominations,  w^th  a  view  to  secure 
unanimity  and  cordiality.  Those  who  are  agreed  with  us  in 
our  understaHding  of  the  scriptures,  we  take  into  communion, 
as  brothers  and  sisters;  and  those  who  cannot  agree  with  us 
we  leave,  with  the  common  privilege  of  forming  a  communion 
for  themselves,  with  those  with  whom  they  can  harmonize. 
Is  this  a  bigoted,  narrow,  or  unreasonable  system?  We 
think  not. 

We  will  now  examine,  a  little  more  closely,  the  system  of 
those  who  admit — not  however,  it  would  seem,  without  some 
reluctance — that  summaries  of  faith  and  duty  may  be  framed, 
provided  that  in  making  them,  nothing  but  the  very  language 
of  scripture  be  employed.  In  accordance  with  this  system, 
summaries  of  religious  truth  have  been  formed,  by  simply 
bringing  together,  from  various  parts  of  the  sacred  volume,  a 
large  number  of  what  have  been  considered  apposite  texts. 
Now,  although  this  plan  seems  to  me  to  require  such  a  regard 
to  mere  language,  as  is  not  required  either  by  reason  or  re- 


12  LECTURES  ON  THE 

velation,  yet  I  would  not  offer  a  single  objection  against  it, 
were  it  not  for  the  fact  already  mentioned — a  fact  too  noto- 
rious to  be  denied  or  disguised — that  the  constructions  given 
to  the  language  of  scripture  are  so  various  and  opposite,  that 
all  the  sects  of  Christendom  take  shelter  under  it;  so  that  it 
can  never  be  known  what  a  man's  real  sentiments  are,  merely 
by  his  quotations  of  scripture.  Are  we  to  believe  that  the 
advocates  of  this  system  seek  to  conceal  their  sentiments? 
Do  they  hold  something  which  they  would  rather  not  openly 
and  fully  avow,  in  the  face  of  the  world?  It  really  seems  no 
violation  of  candour  or  charity,  to  believe  that  something  of 
this  kind  has  an  influence,  on  those  who  so  vehemently  de- 
nounce and  vituperate  all  human  formularies  of  faith  and  doc- 
trine. Some,  however,  we  doubt  not  there  are,  who  conscien- 
tiously think  that  creeds  and  confessions,  expressed  in  other 
words  than  those  of  scripture,  unduly  cramp  the  human 
mind;  and  that  by  confining  ourselves  to  the  very  language 
of  inspiration  we  should  provide  against  this  evil.  But  we 
rather  think  that  the  evil  which  these  good  men  would  guard 
against  is  imaginary;  and  that  their  system,  if  adopted,  would 
throw  us  upon  one  that  is  undeniably  great — the  evil  of  shel- 
tering every  kind  of  heresy,  under  a  professed*  regard  to  the 
language  of  inspiration. — Not,  by  any  means,  that  we  consider 
the  language  of  scripture,  in  regard  to  the  fundamentals  of 
religion,  as  in  itself  loose  and  equivocal.  On  the  contrary, 
we  believe  and  maintain  that  no  language  can  be  more  plain, 
significant,  and  impressive.  But  what  with  pretended  im- 
provements in  translating  the  original,  and  the  glosses  and  ex- 
planations put  upon  the  translation  after  it  is  made,  we  know 
that  the  language  of  scripture  has  been,  and  constantly  is, 
most  grossly  perverted.  We  want  to  tell  how  we  under- 
stand it;  and  we  give  the  passages  of  Scripture  along  with 
our  creed,  for  this  very  purpose.  Does  not  this  embrace  the 
whole  that  is  desirable — a  scriptural  creed,  and  the  interpre- 
tation that  we  give  to  scripture?  Who  can  deny  that  this  is 
frank,  and  fair,  and  harmless?— that  it  is  perfectly  reasonable, 
and  may  be  highly  useful? 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  1^ 

As  to  cramping  the  human  mind,  we  have  to  remark,  that 
we  do  not  believe  that  great  discoveries  are  yet  to  be  made, 
in  regard  to  the  doctrines  of  the  word  of  God.  That  pro- 
phecy may  hereafter  be  better  understood  than  it  is  at  pre- 
sent, and  that  particular  passages  of  scripture  may  be  illus- 
trated by  learned  criticism,  by  historical  investigations,  by 
geographical,  geological,  and  such  like  researches  and  disco- 
veries, we  readily  admit.  But  we  have  no  belief  that  any  one 
leading  doctrine  of  Christianity,  any  one  point  that  we  now 
hold  as  an  important  practical  truth  of  the  revealed  system, 
will  ever  be  changed,  by  any  discoveries  yet  to  be  made  in 
the  meaning  of  the  sacred  writings.  We  conceive  it  to  be  in 
the  highest  degree  improbable,  that  any  such  doctrines  and 
truths  as  these  should  have  been  hidden  from  the  people  of 
God,  from  the  time  of  the  apostles  till  the  present;  and  that 
they  will  continue  to  be  hidden,  till  the  time  when  these  sup- 
posed discoveries  shall  be  made.  It  seems  to  us,  on  the  con- 
trary, that  any  pretension  that  a  new  and  important  doctrine 
had  been  discovered  in  the  Bible,  would  be  proved  false,  by 
its  very  claim  to  be  both  new  and  important.  What  is  im- 
portant in  the  doctrines  of  scripture,  has  always  been  impor- 
tant to  the  church  of  Christ;  and  we  cannot  think  it  reason- 
able to  believe  that  the  whole  church  has,  for  nearly  two 
thousand  years,  been  deprived  of  truth  important  to  her  edifi- 
cation; because  it  was  revealed  in  such  a  covert  manner,  that 
the  veil  of  mystery  could  not  be  drawn  aside  in  all  that  period. 
Now,  our  confession  and  catechisms  profess  to  specify  only 
the  leading  truths  and  doctrines  of  revelation :  they  do  not 
extend  to  small  and  less  important  circumstances  and  particu- 
lars. They  therefore  relate  only  to  that  which  we  believe  to 
be  unchangeable — They  restrict  the  human  mind  no  more 
than  it  is  restricted  by  divine  authority.  They  thus  endea- 
vour to  provide  for  the  maintenance  of  an  orthodox  scriptural 
creed;  and  yet  they  leave  a  full  and  complete  opening  for  all 
real  improvements  in  biblical  learning  and  theological  know- 
ledge. 

The  great  design  and  principal  use  of  a  catechism,  or  arti- 


14  LECTURES  ON  THE 

cles  of  faith,  is  to  bring  together,  in  proper  order,  the  princi- 
pal truths  and  doctrines  of  the  Bible ;  so  that  they  may  be 
seen  at  one  view,  and  in  a  small  compass.  We  believe  that 
this  is  very  advantageous  to  all,  and  especially  to  the 
young.  Hence  the  practice  so  general,  in  our  church,  of 
requiring  children  and  youth  to  commit  accurately  to  memo- 
ry, at  least  our  Shorter  Catechism — frequently,  with  the 
whole  of  the  scripture  proofs.  If  it  be  remarked  that  much 
of  this  catechism  cannot  be  fully  understood  by  children  in 
their  early  years,  it  should  be  remembered,  that  this  is  no 
more  than  is  true  of  almost  all  elementary  instruction. 
Scarcely  ever  is  it  more  than  partially  understood  at  first; 
but  being  treasured  up  in  the  memory,  it  is  there  for  medi- 
tation, and  investigation,  and  application,  as  the  mind  gra- 
dually advances  in  knowledge  and  in  strength.  Parents  and 
teachers,  as  I  have  already  had  occasion  to  remind  you,  should 
explain  the  catechism  to  their  children,  as  far  as  is  practica- 
ble. To  explain  it  more  fully,  and  to  apply  it  practically,  is 
what  I  am  to  attempt  in  these  lectures;  which  I  am  sure  will 
be  heard  with  far  greater  interest,  and  better  comprehension, 
by  those  who  have  learned  the  catechism,  than  by  those  who 
have  not. 

It  is,  without  doubt,  a  wise  order,  that  the  sacred  volume 
should  be  given  to  us  exactly  as  we  have  received  it,  with  its 
doctrines,  and  precepts,  and  institutions,  connected  with  his- 
tory, and  biography,  and  poetry,  and  proverbs,  and  prophecy, 
and  epistolary  writings.  But  will  any  one  contend  that  it  is 
either  unlawful  or  unprofitable,  to  select  from  the  difierent 
parts  of  the  sacred  volume,  the  chief  principles  and  doctrines 
of  divine  revelation,  to  digest  them  into  system,  and  thus  to 
present  them  in  a  connected  view?  What  is  a  sermon — or  at 
least  what  ought  it  to  be — but  the  statement,  illustration  and 
enforcement  of  some  revealed  truth  ?  And  why  may  not  this 
as  lawfully  be  done  in  a  Catechism,  or  a  Confession  of  Faith, 
as  in  a  sermon,  or  indeed  in  any  other  form  of  discourse  or 
communication?  "  To  the  law  and  to  the  testimony" — Is  not 
the  practice  for  which  I  here  plead — that  of  making  summa- 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  15 

rles  of  religious  truth — countenanced  by  what  we  find  in  the 
Bible  itself?  What  is  the  decalogue,  or  moral  law,  but  a  sum- 
mary of  religious  truth  and  duty?  What  is  the  Lord's 
Prayer,  but  a  summary  of  devotion?  What  did  the  apostle 
Paul  mean  when  he  expressly  commanded  Timothy — "  Hold 
fast  the  form  of  sound  ivords  which  thou  hast  heard  of  me?" 
And  when  it  is  considered  how  short  a  time  the  apostle  re- 
mained in  some  of  the  places  in  which  he  established  churches, 
we  can,  I  apprehend,  scarcely  conceive  that,  at  first,  he  had 
time  to  do  more  than  to  give  his  converts,  as  missionaries 
now  do,  a  summary  of  Christian  truth  and  doctrine.  That  he 
could  not  do  less  than  this,  is  manifest  from  the  nature  of  the 
case — Christian  churches  could  not  be  established  and  orga- 
nized without  it.  This  practice,  then,  appears,  I  think,  to  be 
warranted  by  apostolick  example  and  divine  authority. 

Will  it  be  said,  that  the  summaries  to  which  we  have  refer- 
red were  made  under  the  same  infallible  guidance  of  inspira- 
tion, by  which  the  scriptures  themselves  were  indited?  Such 
certainly  was  the  fact ;  and  by  referring  to  the  summaries  of 
inspiration,  we  only  claim  to  have  established  the  point,  that 
such  compilations  are,  in  themselves,  lawful  and  useful. 

The  catechetical  or  questionary  form  of  religious  summa- 
ries, renders  them  most  easy  and  interesting,  to  children  and 
youth;  and  indeed  to  Christians  of  all  ages  and  descriptions. 
For  myself,  I  have  no  reluctance  to  state  thus  publickly,  what 
I  have  frequently  mentioned  in  private,  that  in  the  composition 
of  sermons,  one  of  the  readiest  and  best  aids  I  have  ever  found, 
has  been  my  catechism.  Let  me  add  further,  that  long  ob- 
servation has  satisfied  me,  that  a  principal  reason  why  instruc- 
tion and  exhortation  from  the  pulpit  are  so  little  efficacious,  is, 
that  they  presuppose  a  degree  of  information,  or  an  acquaint- 
ance with  the  truths  and  doctrines  of  divine  revelation,  which, 
by  a  great  part  of  the  hearers,  is  not  possessed ;  and  which 
would  best  of  all  have  been  supplied  by  catechetical  instruc- 
tion. It  is  exactly  this  kind  of  instruction,  which  is,  at  the 
present  time,  most  urgently  needed,  in  many,  perhaps  in 
most,  of  our  congregations.     It  is  needed  to  imbue  efiectu- 


16  LECTURES  ON  THE 

ally  the  minds  of  our  people  with  ''the  first  principles  of  the 
oracles  of  God;"  to  indoctrinate  them  soundly  and  systema- 
tically in  revealed  truth;  and  thus  to  guard  them  against  being 
"carried  about  with  every  wind  of  doctrine;"  as  well  as  to 
qualify  them  to  join  in  the  weekly  service  of  the  sanctuary 
with  full  understanding,  and  with  minds  in  all  respects  pre- 
pared for  the  right  and  deep  impression  of  what  they  hear. 

Catechisms  and  creeds  of  human  composition,  have,  in  fact, 
always  existed  in  the  church  of  God — The  Jews  have  them 
till  this  day.  What  is  usually  called  the  apostles'  creed, 
though  probably  not  composed  b}^  the  apostles  themselves, 
was  apparently  formed  in  the  apostolick  age.  That  creeds  of 
human  composition  may  be  abused,  and  have  been  abused,  we 
do  not  deny.  But  so  has  the  inspired  volume  itself,  and  that 
in  the  most  palpable  and  lamentable  manner.  To  argue 
against  the  usefulness  of  any  thing,  because  it  may  be  abused, 
is  weak  and  inconclusive.  The  argument  proves  too  much. 
— It  goes  to  destroy  every  thing  excellent.  In  the  primitive 
Christian  church,  there  was  an  order  of  men  called  catechists, 
whose  business  it  was  to  instruct  in  the  first  principles  of  reli- 
o-ion,  a  description  of  persons  called  catechumens,  who  by  this 
instruction,  were  prepared  for  baptism  and  full  communion 
with  the  church.  We  have  no  such  order  of  men  at  present 
in  our  church,  but  the  duties  which  they  performed  ought  to 
be  discharged  faithfully  by  parents  and  pastors;  for  without 
this  kind  of  instruction,  I  repeat,  the  best  preparation  will 
seldom,  if  ever,  be  made,  for  advancing  rapidly  and  correctly 
in  Christian  knowledge  and  Christian  edification. 

Creeds  and  catechisms  moreover  are  of  use  to  make  known 
to  the  world  at  large,  what  are  the  real  religious  tenets  of  the 
several  Christian  denominations  that  adopt  them.  It  is  fre- 
quently made  the  subject  of  complaint,  by  different  sects  of 
Christians,  that  their  religious  faith  and  principles  are  mis- 
represented. This  complaint,  certainly,  may  be  made  with 
great  justice,  by  every  sect  that  has  given  to  the  world  a 
full  and  fair  exhibition  of  its  faith  and  practice.  But  surely 
those  who  have  not  done   this,  have  little  reason  to  com- 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  '  17 

plain.  At  least,  they  ought  not  to  complain  of  any  mis- 
conceptions, or  misrepresentations,  which  do  not  appear  to 
have  been  wilful  and  malignant.  It  does  seem  to  me  that 
every  religious  denomination  owes  to  itself,  and  to  the  world 
at  large,  a  fair  exhibition  of  the  fundamentals  of  its  faith. 
To  itself  it  owes  such  an  exhibition,  that  unfounded  prejudices 
may  not  be  conceived  to  its  disadvantage — and  for  the  same 
reason,  as  well  as  that  those  who  do  not  belong  to  it  may  be 
informed,  and  perhaps  edified,  the  debt  is  due  to  the  world  at 
large.  The  justice  of  this  opinion  has,  in  fact,  been  almost  uni- 
versally felt,  if  not  distinctly  admitted.*  There  are  very  few 
sects  in  Christendom,  that  have  not  publick  and  acknowledged 
formularies  of  their  faith:  and  those  who  have  not,  almost  al- 
ways refer,  when  inquiries  about  their  principles  are  made,  to 
some  writings,  or  to  some  author,  generally  acknowledged  to 
have  made  a  just  representation  of  their  religious  belief  and 
practice. 

You  have  now  heard  my  reply  to  all  the  objections,  of  any 
moment,  which  I  have  ever  heard,  against  religious  creeds 
and  catechisms,  and  my  reasons  for  thinking  that  these  for- 
mularies and  summaries  are  not  only  lawful,  but  exceedingly 
useful  and  important.  If  what  I  have  said  on  this  subject  has 
been  satisfactory,  you  will  be  prepared  to  hear  the  intended 
course  of  lectures  without  prejudice,  and  consequently  with  a 
greater  prospect  of  advantage. 

The  catechism  on  which  the  subsequent  lectures  are  to  be 
founded,  is  the  production  of  some  of  the  most  learned  and 
pious  divines  that  ever  lived.  Its  origin  was  this — In  the 
year  A.  D.  1643,  an  Assembly  of  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
one  divines,  with  thirty  lay  assessors,  was  convened,  by  an 
order  of  the  British  parliament,  in  Westminster.  They  were 
soon  joined  by  commissioners  from  Scotland.  They  sat  more 
than  five  years  and  a  half.  They  hoped  to  have  formed  a 
rule  of  faith,  and  form  of  church  government,  for  both  na- 
tions.    What  they  did  was  ultimately  rejected  by  the  Eng- 

*  See  "  Corpus  et  Syntagma  cotif'essionum  Hdei,''  &c. 
c 


18  '  LECTURES  ON  THE 

lish,  and  adopted  by  the  Scotch.  The  Presbyterian  church 
in  this  country,  derive?  its  origin  from  that  of  Scotland,  and 
has  taken  its  Confession  of  Faith,  with  some  important  altera- 
tions relative  to  magistrates  and  civil  government,  and  its  ca- 
techisms, with  only  one  slight  alteration,*  from  the  Scottish 
model.  The  present  standards  of  our  church  were  adopted 
by  the  Synod  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  sitting  in  this 
city,  in  May,  1788. 

You  will  understand,  my  young  friends,  that  I  am  no  advo- 
cate for  national  churches,  or  ecclesiastical  establishments  of 
any  kind;  nor  is  any  thing  of  this  sort,  in  the  slightest  de- 
gree, countenanced,  but  on  the  contrary,  it  is  expressly  dis- 
claimed, in  our  church  standards,  and  cordially  disapproved,  I 
know,  by  the  clergy,  as  well  as  the  laity  of  our  church.  In 
this  we  certainly  differ  from  the  Westminster  Assembly  of 
divines.  What  we  esteem  their  error,  in  regard  to  national 
religious  establishments,  was,  however,  rather  the  error  of  the 
day  in  which  they  lived,  than  any  thing  peculiar  to  the  men 
who  composed  that  assembly.  There  is  not  one  word  touch- 
ing this  point,  and  there  never  was,  in  the  Shorter  Catechism 
which  they  formed.  This  is  a  composition,  which  has  been 
held,  by  as  competent  judges,  probably,  as  the  world  has  seen 
since  the  apostolick  age,  to  be  among  the  soundest  and  best 
expressed  compendiums  of  Christian  faith  and  practice,  that 
were  ever  formed  by  uninspired  men.  Such,  then,  is  the  ca- 
techism, and  such  the  short  history  of  it,  to  which  your 
serious  attention  is  to  be  drawn,  in  the  subsequent  lectures. 

In  the  conclusion  of  this  introductory  address,  allow  me  to 
say,  that. I  indulge  the  hope,  that  your  attendance  here  will 
be  regular,  punctual  and  serious.  Occasional  absences  it  may 
not  be  practicable  to  avoid.     But  may  it  not  be  expected  that 

*  The  single  alteration,  or  omission  rather,  was  in  the  larger  catechism ; 
where,  in  stating  what  is  forbidden  in  the  second  commandment,  the  original 
framers  of  the  catechism,  among  many  things  which  they  specify,  mention 
this — "  tolerating  a  false  religion."  This  clause,  the  writer,  who  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Synod  that  adopted  our  standards,  remembers  was  rejected  very 
promptly—he  thinks  without  debate,  and  by  a  unanimous  vote. 


SHORTER   CATECHISM.  19 

slight  hindrances,  or  fashionable  amusements,  will  not  be  per- 
mitted to  draw  you  aside  from  a  course  of  religious  instruc- 
tion, which  will  occupy  but  one  evening  in  the  week,  and 
which  it  will  be  highly  advantageous  for  you  to  receive  in  an 
unbroken  series. 

One  thing  more,  and  I  shall  have  done.  Let  me  beseech 
you  all,  not  to  content  yourselves  merely  with  intellectual 
improvement — important  and  commendable  as  such  improve- 
ment certainly  is.  I  have  known  some  young  persons,  who 
were  desirous  to  increase  their  knowledge,  and  to  render  it 
accurate,  on  the  subject  of  religion ;  and  who,  notwithstand- 
ing, guarded  themselves  very  cautiously,  against  the  influence 
of  this  knowledge  on  their  hearts  and  lives — They  wished 
to  understand  religion,  but  not  to  practise  it.  Take,  I  entreat 
you,  a  different  course.  Endeavour  to  open  your  hearts,  as 
well  as  your  understandings,  to  the  sacred  truths  which  you 
are  to  hear  explained  and  inculcated.  Do  I  ask  too  much, 
when  I  request  you  always  to  pray  for  a  divine  blessing,  on 
what  you  are  going  to  hear,  and  after  you  shall  have  heard 
it?  If  you  will  do  this,  the  happiest  result  may  certainly  be 
expected.  And  if,  in  answer  to  your  prayers,  and  the  pray- 
ers of  many,  which  will,  I  know,  be  offered  for  you,  your 
attention  to  these  lectures  shall  be  the  means  of  leading  you  to 
genuine  Christian  piety,  we  shall  have  reason  to  rejoice — and 
I  hope  shall  actually  rejoice  together — through  every  subse- 
quent period  of  our  existence — I,  that  I  was  permitted  to  be 
the  instrument  of  so  much  good ;  and  you,  that  God  was 
pleased  to  bless  my  feeble  endeavours,  to  your  eternal  benefit. 


*• 


20  LECTURES  ON  THE 


LECTURE  11. 

What  is  the  chief  end  of  Man  ? 

Having  in  a  former  lecture  shown  that  the  objections  are 
unfounded,  which  are  raised  against  Formulas  of  faith,  and  a 
proper  exposition  of  them,  I  now  proceed  immediately  to  con- 
sider the  first*  answer  in  our  Shorter  Catechism^,  which  is 
this— - 

"  Man's  chief  end  is  to  glorify  God,  and  to  enjoy  him 
forever." 

It  is  with  great  propriety  that  this  is  made  the  first  subject 
of  attention  in  a  system  of  theological  truth.  Even  in  natu- 
ral religion,  this  is  considered  as  the  point  at  which  all  inquiry 
and  discussion  must  begin.  "  It  seems  a  point  agreed  upon 
— says  a  writer  on  natural  religion — that  the  principles  of 
duty  and  obligation  must  be  drawn  from  the  nature  of  man: 
that  is  to  say,  if  we  can  discover  how  his  Maker  formed 
him,  or  for  what  he  intended  him,  that  certainly  is  what  be 
ought  to  be."t 

Difficulties,  however,  of  the  most  serious  kind,  leading  to 
perplexed  and  endless  disputes,  embarrassed  the  ancient  hea- 
then philosophers,  and  must  embarrass  all  philosophers,  whe- 
ther ancient  or  modern,  in  attempting,  without  the  aid  of  reve- 
lation, to  explain  the  nature  and  chief  end  of  man.  We  have 
great  reason,  therefore,  to  be  thankful,  that  in  investigating 

*  It  is  proper  to  remark,  that  the  questions  in  the  Shorter  Catechism 
are  not  necessary  to  a  full  understanding  of  the  answers,  which  may  be  read 
without  the  questions;  and  when  thus  read,  will  be  found  to  contain,  each  a 
perspicuous  proposition,  and  the  whole,  taken  in  connexion,  to  form  a  com- 
plete and  beautiful  system.  In  these  lectures  therefore,  a  question  will  be 
placed  at  the  beginning  of  each  lecture,  merely  to  indicate  the  subject  of 
that  lecture,  and  the  discussion  of  the  answer  will  immediately  commence. 

f  Witherspoon's  Moral  Philosophy. 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  21 

this  interesting  subject,  we  liave  clearer  light  than  human  rea- 
son alone  can  furnish — That  we  know,  from  the  declaration  of 
God  himself,  how,  and  for  what,  he  formed  man  at  first,  and 
to  what  end  all  his  conduct  ought  still  to  be  directed. 

As  the  answer  before  us  speaks  of  the  chief  end  of  man, 
this,  you  perceive,  implies  that  there  may  be  other  inferior, 
subordinate,  and  subservient  ends,*  which,  in  consistency 
with  the  appointment  of  the  Deity,  we  may  and  should  re- 
gard. A  careful  attention  to  this  is  important,  both  on  its 
own  account,  and  for  a  right  apprehension  of  the  general 
subject. 

It  was  clearly  intended  by  the  Creator  that  man  should  pre- 
serve his  own  life;  that  he  should  continue  his  species;  that 
he  should  improve  his  faculties;  that  he  should  provide  for 
his  own  comfortable  subsistence  in  the  world;  and  that  he 
should  sustain  many  relations  and  discharge  many  duties, 
which  grow,  as  it  were,  out  of  his  very  nature  as  an  intelli- 
gent, moral,  and  social  being.  All  these,  therefore,  are  ends 
or  objects,  at  which  man  not  only  may,  but  ought  to  aim. 
By  neglecting  or  refusing  to  do  so,  he  would  violate  the  law 
of  his  nature — the  appointment  of  his  God. 

But  it  is  to  be  carefully  observed  and  remembered,  that  all 
these  objects  are  to  be  regarded  and  pursued,  as  ends  subordi- 
nate and  subservient,  to  one  which  is  unspeakably  higher  and 
more  important,  and  which  therefore  is  called  the  chief  end. 
All  other  ends  or  pursuits  are  to  be  considered  and  treated 
only  as  means,  or  steps  of  advance,  to  help  and  carry  us  for- 
ward to  this  chief  end,  which  is,  the  glorifying  and  enjoy- 
ing of  our  God.  Whoever,  therefore,  makes  it  his  chief  end 
— an  end  beyond  which  he  does  not  look — an  object  which 
he  makes  supreme  and  ultimate — to  obtain  wealth,  or  ho- 
nour, or  influence,  or  ease,  or  worldly  good  of  any  kind — that 
individual  contravenes  the  order  of  his  Maker,  violates  his 

*  A  distinction  has  sometimes  been  stated  between  an  uUimute  and  a 
chief  er\(\.  Such  a  distinction  may  sometimes  perhaps  be  made  with  justice  ; 
but  it  cannot  be  so  made  in  the  subject  liere  discussed.  Man's  chipf  and 
ultimate  eu^  are  here  the  same. 


22  LECTURES  ON  THE 

appointment,  makes  an  ultimate  end  of  what,  if  not  absolutely 
unlawful  in  itself,  should  be  regarded  only  as  the  means  of 
serving,  glorifying,  and  enjoying  his  Creator. 

And  in  this  very  point  it  is,  my  young  friends,  that  the  sin 
and  the  folly  of  the  great  mass  of  mankind  may  be  seen. 
They  make  a  chief  end  of  what  should  be  only  a  subordinate 
one:  they  try  to  find  substantial  happiness  where  it  never 
was,  and  never  can  be  found;  they  give  to  creature  objects 
that  high  regard  and  supreme  affection,  which  belong  only  to 
the  Creator.  Hence  they  are  chargeable  with  spiritual  idola- 
try; and  therefore  of  such  it  is  said  in  Holy  Scripture,  that 
they  "  worship  and  serve  the  creature,  more  than  the  Creator, 
who  is  blessed  forever." 

The  reasotiableness  of  making  it  our  chief  end  to  glorify  and 
enjoy  God,  is  almost  too  obvious  for  argument.  To  Him  we  are 
indebted  for  our  existence ;  he  gave  us  all  our  powers  and  all 
our  capacities  of  enjoyment;  he  constantly  upholds  our  being, 
and  crowns  our  lives  with  loving  kindness  and  tender  mercy ; 
he  is,  in  Himself,  the  underived  fountain  of  all  conceivable 
perfection  and  excellence;  he  has  given  his  Son  to  be  our  Sa- 
viour, and  his  Spirit  to  be  our  Sanctifier,  Guide,  and  Comfort- 
er; he  is  able — and  hQ  alone  is  able — to  render  us  completely 
happy,  by  imparting  to  our  souls  an  enjoyment  which  can  en- 
tirely fill  and  satisfy  them.  The  reasonableness  of  making  it 
our  chief  end  to  glorify  and  enjoy  such  a  Being  as  this,  must 
be  evident  at  once.  Men  may,  and  alas !  they  too  generally 
do,  forget  and  neglect  their  duty  in  this  respect;  but  its  rea- 
sonableness they  do  not  often  deny — It  cannot  be  denied 
without  the  most  glaring  absurdity,  and  the  most  daring  im- 
piety. I  shall,  therefore,  only  add  at  present,  to  what  you  have 
heard  on  this  point,  the  express  command  by  which  the  duty 
is  enjoined  in  scripture : — "  Whether,  therefore,  ye  eat  or 
drink,  or  whatsoever  ye  do,  do  all  to  the  glory  of  God." 

If,  then,  it  be  clearly  the  chief  end  of  man  to  glorify  and 
enjoy  God,  the  important  inquiry  returns, — how  is  this  to  be 
done  ?  My  dear  youth,  the  glory  of  God  and  our  own  hap- 
piness are  always  promoted  by  the  same  means,  as  I  shall 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  ,  23 

show  in  its  place.  They  ought,  however,  to  be  viewed  sepa- 
rately. And  to  unfold  the  subject,  in  as  clear  and  practical  a 
manner  as  I  am  able,  let  me  first  explain  what  is  to  be  under- 
stood by  man's  glorifying  God. 

Here  an  old  and  just  distinction  is  to  be  observed — the  dis- 
tinction between  the  essential  and  the  declarative  glory  of 
God. 

Let  it  be  observed,  that  the  glory  of  any  being,  or  object, 
is  something  which  renders  such  being  or  object  worthy  of 
very  high  admiration,  esteem,  and  love.  Whoever,  or  what- 
ever, is  thus  worthy,  we  denominate  glorious.  Now  God  is, 
from  his  very  nature  and  attributes,  worthy,  in  the  highest 
possible  degree,  of  esteem,  love,  and  admiration.  Of  these 
affections,  in  their  most  vigorous  exercise,  there  is  every  thing 
in  the  Deity  to  render  him  the  fit  object. 

It  has  been  observed,  that  we  form  our  ideas  of  the  Supreme 
Being  by  adding  irifinity  and  perfection  to  whatever  we  can 
conceive  of  excellence,  both  natural  and  moral.  Now,  this  in- 
finitude and  perfection  of  natural  and  moral  excellence,  consti- 
tutes the  essential  glory  of  God;  and  this,  you  will  observe, 
can  never  be  increased  or  diminished.  It  cannot  be  increased, 
because,  by  the  supposition,  it  is  already  infinite  and  perfect. 
It  cannot  be  diminished,  because  it  is  among  the  perfections 
of  the,  Deity,  that  he  is  immutable  and  independent.  If  it 
should  be  supposed  that  not  a  creature  in  the  universe  was 
able  to  perceive,  or  was  disposed  to  acknowledge,  the  glorious 
perfections  of  the  blessed  God,  that  plainly  would  not  change 
their  nature ;  or  make  them,  in  themselves,  less  worthy  of  the 
affections  which  they  are  proper  to  excite — They  would  remain 
exactly  what  they  are;  and  what  they  were,  in  fact,  eternal 
ages  before  any  creature  did  exist.  When,  therefore,  we  are 
commanded  to  glorify  God,  the  command  has  no  relation  to 
this  his  essential  glory  ;  because  this  is  wholly  unconnected^ 
as  we  have  seen,  with  the  dispositions  or  actions  of  any  of  his 
creatures. — He  is  entirely  independent  on  all  creatures,  in  his 
essential  glory  and  perfect  happiness. 

The  command  then  relates  altogether  to  the  declarative 


24  LECTURES  ON  THE 

glory  of  God.  It  has  pleased  the  blessed  God  to  make  a  de- 
claratioriy  manifestation,  or  display,  of  his  glorious  nature  and 
attributes,  in  order  that  they  may  be  perceived,  admired, 
esteemed  and  loved,  by  his  intelligent  and  moral  creatures, 
whom  he  created  for  this  very  purpose.  This  declaration  of 
the  glorious  nature  and  attributes  of  the  Deity,  is  made  even 
by  the  inanimate  creation.  '^  The  heavens  declare  the  glory 
of  God,  and  the  firmament  shovveth  his  handy  work.  Day 
unto  day  uttereth  speech,  and  night  unto  night  showeth  know- 
ledge. There  is  no  speech  nor  language  where  their  voice  is 
not  heard.  Their  line  is  gone  out  through  all  the  earth,  and 
their  words  to  the  end  of  the  world. ^'  In  every  part  of  crea- 
tion, the  boundless  wisdom,  power  and  goodness  of  the  Deity 
are  conspicuously  manifested.  But  it  is  in  the  volume  of  in- 
spiration, given  by  Himself,  that  we  have  the  clearest  revela- 
tion, or  declaration,  of  the  nature  and  perfections  of  God.  It 
is  here  alone,  that  we  are  taught  to  form  conceptions  which 
are  entirely^w^^ — adequate  they  can  never  be — of  his  purity, 
holiness,  and  justice:  and  in  no  other  way  whatever,  than  by 
his  own  declaration,  could  v/e  be  assured  of  his  mercy,  or  his 
readiness  to  pardon  the  guilty. 

Now,  this  declarative  glory  of  God,  is  not,  you  perceive, 
unconnected  with  his  creatures.  A  declaration,  indeed,  ne- 
cessarily implies  a  party  to  whom  the  declaration  is  made. 
Intelligent  and  moral  beings  are  necessary,  in  order  that  this 
declarative  glor}^  of  God  may  be  perceived.  It  is  to  them, 
and  for  their  sakes,  that  it  is  made.  They  were,  as  already 
intimated,  created  for  the  very  purpose  of  perceiving,  diffus- 
ing, and  being  made  happy  by  it.  And  they  are  said  to  glo- 
rify God,  when  they  duly  admire,  esteem  and  love  him,  for 
whatever  of  his  nature  and  attributes  can  be  discerned,  in 
his  works  and  in  his  word.  When,  on  the  contrary,  they  re- 
fuse or  fail  to  do  this,  they  are  said  not  to  glorify,  but  to  dis- 
honour him.  And  when  they  are  instrumental  in  bringing 
their  fellow  creatures  to  the  knowledge,  esteem,  love,  and 
obedience  of  God,  they  are  then  said  io pr-omote  his  glory; 


SHORTER    CATECHISM.  25 

Ihey,  as  it  were,  widen  and  enlarge  the  circle  in  which  his 
declarative  glory  shines,  and  produces  its  proper  eflfects. 

This  may  serve  for  a  general  illustration  of  the  point  be- 
fore us.  I  shall  sliovv,  more  particularly,  how  we  are  both  to 
glorify  and  enjoy  God,  after  disposing  of  some  other  inquiries 
and  considerations  which  belong  to  the  subject;  and  which, 
if  rightly  disposed  of,  will  serve  both  to  illustrate  and  enforce 
the  duty  of  glorifying  God,  and  of  seeking  happiness  in  Him, 
as  the  chief  end  of  our  being. 

One  of  the  inquiries  to  which  I  have  referred,  may  be 
stated  thus — If  it  be  the  chief  end  of  man  to  glorify  and  en- 
joy God,  will  it  not  follow,  that  this  must  always  be  pre- 
sent to  his  mind,  as  the  immediate  and  operative  motive, 
in  every  voluntary  action  of  his  whole  life?  This  inquiry 
I  apprehend  involves  no  real  difficulty.  We  have  already 
seen  that  a  chief  end,  not  only  consists  with  intermediate 
and  subordinate  ends,  but  implies  them.  Having  rightly 
fixed  our  chief  end,  and  duly  arranged  whatever  leads  to 
it,  every  intermediate  concern  may  occupy  our  attention, 
and  be  the  proximate  motive  of  action,  so  as  not  to  inter- 
fere with  what  is  ultimate,  but  constantly  to  carry  us  for- 
ward toward  it,  in  all  respects  as  much  as  if  the  ultimate 
object  were  every  moment  present  to  the  mind — Take  a 
familiar  illustration  of  this.  Say  that  a  man  enters  on  a 
long  journey,  with  a  view  to  transact  some  very  interesting 
and  important  concern.  This  important  concern  is  his  chief 
end.  For  this  he  takes  the  journey;  with  a  view  to  this  he 
makes  every  preparation;  ascertains  the  best  and  most  direct 
route;  the  best,  and  safest,  and  most  speedy  conveyance;  and 
provides  for  the  preservation  of  his  health,  comfort  and  ac- 
commodation on  the  way — While  on  the  way,  he  enjoys 
company;  improves  his  mind  by  observation  and  reading;  re- 
freshes himself  by  food  and  sleep ;  and  attends  to  numerous 
subordinate  concerns,  not  inconsistent  with  a  regular  and 
rapid  advance  toward  his  main  and  ultimate  object.  But  in 
the  mean  time,  this  object,  you  observe,  is  not  every  moment 
present  to  the  mind  of  the  traveller,  as  the  immediate  ope- 

D 


26  LECTURES  ON  THE 

rative  motive  of  all  that  he  does.  Yet  he  is  really  influenced 
by  it  in  all  that  he  does;  and  in  all  that  he  does  he  advances 
as  rapidly  toward  it,  as  if  it  incessantly  engrossed  all  his 
thoughts  and  all  his  conversation.  It  may  be  added  also, 
that  he  is  so  influenced  by  it,  that  he  is  careful  to  keep  the 
direct  road  toward  it;  and  would  immediately  take  the  alarm, 
if  a  proposition  were  offered,  or  an  attempt  were  made,  to 
turn  him  aside  from  the  right  way,  or  to  delay  him  unneces- 
sarily in  his  journey. 

The  application  of  all  this  might  be  left  to  every  hearer. 
Human  life  is  a  journey.  It  is  represented  in  scripture  as  a 
pilgrimage.  The  great  errand  of  this  pilgrimage — the  errand 
on  which  we  are  sent  into  the  world  is — to  glorify  and  enjoy 
God.  This  is  our  chief  end.  This  is  to  influence  us  in  all  our 
arrangements,  and  in  all  our  progress  through  life.  Yet  we 
have  a  thousand  subordinate  cares  and  concerns,  that  must 
occupy  our  attention,  and  employ  much  of  our  time.  But 
they  may  and  ought  to  be  so  disposed  and  ordered  as  not  to 
hinder,  but  constantly  to  carry  us  forward,  in  the  pursuit  of 
our  great  ultimate  object.  And  to  this  we  should  have  such 
a  constant  and  supreme  regard,  as  to  perceive  in  a  moment 
when  any  thing  would  turn  us  aside,  or  delay  us  in  our  ad- 
vances toward  it. 

Before  leaving  this  topic  however,  I  must  remind  you  dis- 
tinctly, that  the  real  danger  to  be  avoided,  is,  not  that  we 
shall  think  too  much,  but  that  we  shall  think  too  little,  of 
glorifying  and  enjoying  God.  What  you  have  heard  has 
been  said  to  show  that  the  Divine  command  is  not  impracti- 
cable.— It  interferes  with  no  duty.  But  in  reality  the  great 
danger  \s,  for  get  fulness  of  God;  and  the  great  difficulty  and 
complaint  of  the  best  of  men  is,  that  they  do  not  think  as 
much  as  they  ought  to  do  of  their  chief  end.  That  man,  my 
young  friends,  is  the  most  a  Christian,  who  most  seeks  and 
finds  his  happiness  in  glorifying  and  enjoying  God:  who 
keeps  it  most  in  mind,  that  he  is  not  of  the  world,  even  as 
Christ,  his  Master,  was  not  of  the  world: — that  his  citizen- 
ship is  in  heaven ;  that  he  is  a  pilgrim  and  a  stranger  on  the 


SHORTER    CATECHISM.  27 

earth;  that  he  is  seeking  a  better  country,  even  a  heavenly; 
that  he  is  travelling  to  Mount  Zion  above. 

We  now  proceed  to  another  inquiry.  The  answer  in  the 
Catechism  on  which  I  am  speaking,  mentions  two  things, 
which  are  certainly  in  some  respects  different,  namely,  the 
glorifying  of  God,  and  the  everlasting  enjoyment  of  him. 
What  was  the  intention  of  this?  Can  our  chief  end  consist 
in  two  distinct  things?  I  have  already  had  occasion  to  re- 
mark, that  the  glory  of  God  and  our  own  happiness  are  always 
promoted  by  the  same  means,  and  yet  that  they  imply  dis- 
tinct views.  To  remind  us  of  this  connexion  and  distinction, 
was,  I  suppose,  the  design  of  those  who  formed  the  answer 
we  consider;  and  it  is  not  unimportant  to  keep  it  constantly 
in  mind. 

1st,  Then,  let  us  briefly  consider  that  a  supreme  regard  to 
the  glory  of  God,  never  does  or  can  interfere  with  the  truest 
regard  to  our  own  happiness.  It  would  indeed  be  strange,  if 
it  were  otherwise.  One  of  the  clearest  and  strongest  laws  of 
the  nature  which  our  Maker  has  given  us  is,  that  we  should 
desire  and  seek  our  own  happiness;  and  it  would  imply  a 
contradiction  of  Himself,  if  he  had  given  us  a  second  law, 
which  we  could  not  keep  without  violating  the  first.  Let 
us  never  entertain  such  unworthy  thoughts  of  our  Maker,  as 
to  imagine  this.  No  truly,  we  must  believe  that  the  glory  of 
God,  and  our  own  highest  Jinal  happiness,  are  always  con- 
sistent and  inseparable.  Yet  some  of  those  who  have  re- 
solved all  virtue  into  disinterested  benevolence,  and  all  real 
piety  into  disinterested  love  of  God,  have  certainly  gone  the 
length  of  affirming,  that  a  man  ought  to  be  willing  to  suf- 
fer eternal  perdition,  for  the  promotion  of  the  divine  glory. 
Now  in  answering  to  this,  we  are  ready  to  acknowledge  that 
there  is,  not  only  a  disinterested  love  of  God,  but  that  with- 
out it  there  can  be  no  true  love  to  God  at  all.  He  who  does 
not  love  the  Deity  for  what  he  is,  in  and  of  Himself,  certainly 
has  no  genuine  love  to  Him.  Yet  this  by  no  means  implies, 
either  that  all  true  virtue  is  comprised  in  this  single  act  or 
affection,  or  that  a  love  o^ gratitude,  always  implying  a  sense 


I 


28  LECTURES  ON  THE 

of  favours  received,  is  unlawful ;  or  that  a  regard  to  our  own 
happiness  is  not  permitted,  or  not  absolutely  incumbent  on  us. 
The  whole  error,  it  seems  to  me,  arises  from  attempting  to 
separate  in  imagination,  and  in  reasoning,  what  are  never  se- 
parated in  fact;  but  indissolubly  linked  together  by  the  divine 
constitution.  Thus,  in  regard  to  the  point  before  us,  those 
who  maintain  it  must,  I  apprehend,  make  a  separation  be- 
tween the  suffering  and  the  sin,  of  a  state  of  final  perdition. 
That  state  will,  in  fact,  invariably  consist  not  only  of  extreme 
misery,  but  of  the  most  awful  and  unmixed  enmity  to  God, 
and  to  all  goodness.  Now,  if  the  misery  of  such  a  state  be 
not  in  idea  separated  from  its  sinfulness,  then  those  who 
affirm  that  a  man  must  be  willing  to  be  consigned  to  eternal 
perdition  for  the  glory  of  God,  will  have  to  maintain,  that  we 
may  and  ought  to  love  our  Maker  with  such  supreme  affection 
as  to  be  willing  to  hate  and  blaspheme  Him  forever.  But 
any  thing  more  palpably  absurd  and  self-contradictory  than 
this,  cannot,  in  my  apprehension,  be  easily  expressed  or  con- 
ceived :  and  to  my  mind  it  is  not  less  shocking  than  it  is 
absurd. 

As  to  those  passages  of  scripture — I  think  they  are  but  two 
— which  are  supposed  to  give  some  direct  countenance  to  this 
objectionable  tenet,  I  have  only  time  to  say  at  present,  that  I 
entirely  agree  with  the  best  commentators,  in  thinking  that 
they  have  not  the  smallest  bearing  on  the  point.*  No,  my 
young  friends,  the  appointment  of  the  God  of  all  goodness  is, 
that  in  glorifying  Him  we  shall,  always  and  invariably,  con- 
sult our  own  highest  happiness;  we  shall  enjoy  his  comforta- 
ble presence  now,  and  be  preparing  to  enjoy  it  to  all  eternity. 

But  2d,  Although,  by  the  divine  constitution,  the  glory  of 
God  and  the  happiness  of  the  man  who  glorifies  Him,  are  in- 
separable, these  two  things  not  only  admit  of  distinct  views, 
but  sometimes  require  them.  I  have  just  shown  indeed  that 
they  may  be  so  widely  separated,  as  to  leave  one  entirely  out 
of  sight,  which  certainly  ought  never  to  be  done.     Yet  in 

^  See  the  note  at  the  end  of  the  Lecture. 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  29 

laying  down  a  rule  of  duty,  good  reasons  may  be  assigned, 
why  we  should  always  make  the  glory  of  God  our  guide,  and 
derive  from  it  our  highest  motive,  and  our  supreme  obliga- 
tion ;  mindful  always,  that  by  doing  so,  we  shall  invariably 
consult  our  own  best  interest. 

In  the  first  place ^  We  should  recollect  that  it  is  agreeable 
to  the  fitness  of  things — to  what  we  always  consider  right 
and  reasonable — that  we  should  be  supremely  influenced  by 
the  consideration  of  that  which  is  in  itself  most  important. 
Now,  the  glory  of  the  great  and  ever  blessed  God,  is,  in  itself, 
the  most  important  consideration  that  can  be  presented  to  the 
mind  of  any  of  his  intelligent  creatures.  There  is  no  compa- 
rison between  the  importance  of  promoting  the  glory  of  God, 
and  any  other  end  or  object  that  we  can  have  in  view. 
While  therefore  other  objects  may  be  thought  of,  and  other 
motives  have  influence,  this,  in  all  reason,  should  be  supreme ; 
and  should  immediately  control  every  other  which  may  come, 
or  seem  to  come,  in  competition  with  it. 

In  the  second  place ^  A  regard  to  the  glory  of  God  is  a 
much  clearer,  safer,  and  more  simple  rule  of  duty,  than 
merely  aiming  to  promote  our  own  happiness.  There  is  no- 
thing perhaps,  in  which  men  so  often,  and  so  fatally  mistake, 
as  in  choosing  a  course  of  action  which  they  think  will  ren- 
der them  happy.  What  such  a  course  actually  is,  has  been 
the  subject  of  the  gravest  disputes.  Among  the  heathen  philo- 
sophers, the  great  inquiry  was  about  the  summum  bonum; 
or  what  course  of  life  would  render  man  the  happiest:  and  in 
our  daily  observation  we  see  men  in  pursuit  of  happiness,  com- 
pletely missing  their  aim,  and  incurring  misery  instead  of 
providing  for  their  eventual  felicity.  But  we  have  a  much 
clearer  and  more  simple  rule,  when  we  take  as  our  guide  the 
moral  law,  given  us  by  God  himself — and  an  obedience  to 
which  is,  in  the  very  act  of  obeying,  to  glorify  him.  This 
therefore,  we  ought,  in  all  cases,  invariably  to  follow ;  and 
trust  it  with  God  to  make — as  he  certainly  will  make — our 
obedience  to  result,  or  terminate,  in  our  greatest  good — our 
highest  happiness. 


30  LECTURES  ON  THE 

In  the  third  place,  God  has  commanded  us,  to  make  a 
direct  regard  to  his  glor}^  the  rule  of  duty  and  action.  This 
command  you  have  heard  recited;  and  you  have  just  seen  that 
it  is  founded  both  in  reason  and  utility.  But  we  should  re- 
member, that  although  this  were  not  thus  obvious,  a  plain 
precept  of  our  Maker  carries  in  its  very  nature,  not  only  the 
highest  authority,  but  the  highest  reason  too :  for  of  nothing 
can  we  be  better  assured,  than  that  whatever  is  required  by 
Him  who  is  the  infinite  fountain  of  all  wisdom  and  all  good- 
ness, is  perfectly  reasonable  and  perfectly  benevolent:  there- 
fore in  all  cases  "  obey  and  let  heaven  answer  for  the  rest." 

It  now  only  remains  to  state,  very  briefly  and  summarily, 
in  what  manner  we  are  to  act,  if  we  would  make  the  glori- 
fying and  enjoying  of  God  the  chief  end  of  our  being. 

1.  We  cannot  glorify  God,  unless  we  form  just  conceptions 
of  Him.  A  great  part  of  the  world,  even  where  the  light  of 
revelation  has  shined,  we  have  reason  to  fear,  deceive  them- 
selves, in  thinking  that  they  love  and  honour  God,  when  in 
reality  they  do  not.  They  have  formed  erroneous  concep- 
tions of  the  Supreme  Being;  and  what  they  love  is,  in  fact, 
only  a  creature  of  their  own  deluded  minds.  I  am  hereafter 
to  speak  of  the  attributes  of  God ;  and  shall  therefore  not  anti- 
cipate that  subject.  I  shall  only  now  say,  that  if  we  would 
glorify  God,  we  must  be  careful  to  conceive  of  Him  as  we  are 
taught  to  do  in  his  own  holy  word — conceive  of  Him  **  in  his 
whole  round  of  attributes  complete;'^  as  holy  and  just,  as  well 
as  great,  and  good,  and  merciful. 

2.  As  already  stated,  we  must  be  filled  with  admiration, 
esteem  and  love,  in  our  contemplations  of  Him.  God  is,  as 
you  have  heard,  infinitely  worthy  of  these  affections  and  ex- 
ercises of  our  minds.  We  can  never  exceed  in  them,  while 
they  do  not  overwhelm  our  faculties.  And  without  feeling 
them  in  some  measure,  we  can  never  glorify  Him  at  all. 

3.  God  is  to  be  glorified  by  obeying  his  laws,  and  keeping 
all  his  commandments.  Without  this  indeed,  all  our  profes- 
sions of  honouring,  or  delighting  in  Him,  will  be  but  vile 
hypocrisy,  or  wretched  delusion.     "If  ye  love  me  keep  my 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  31 

commandments" — was  the  injunction  of  the  Saviour;  and  it  is 
the  test  by  which  all  our  avowed  regard  to  the  honour  and 
glory  of  God  must  be  tried. 

4.  And  especially — If  we  would  glorify  God,  we  must  be 
reconciled  to  him  through  Jesus  Christ  his  Son,  our  Saviour. 
We  must  accept  of  Christ  as  he  is  offered  in  the  gospel; 
rely  on  him  alone  for  our  acceptance  with  God;  know  the 
power  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  Sanctifier,  in  forming  us  into 
the  likeness  of  Christ;  and  always  approach  the  Father  of 
mercies^  through  the  mediation  of  the  Redeemer,  by  the  aids 
and  influence  of  the  blessed  Spirit.  It  is  in  the  work  of  re- 
demption by  Christ,  that  it  is  the  purpose  of  God  to  glorify 
Himself,  more  than  in  all  his  other  works:  and  it  is  utterly 
vain  to  think  of  glorifying  Him,  if  we  do  not  humbly  and 
thankfully  receive  Christ  for  all  the  purposes  for  which  he 
was  given;  and  do  not  see  and  admire  the  glory  of  God,  as  it 
shines  transcendently  in  the  great  work  of  our  redemption. 

But  we  are  to  enjoy  God,  as  well  as  to  glorify  him — 

1.  By  choosing  him  as  the  portion  of  our  souls,  and  seek- 
ing and  finding  our  highest  happiness  in  Him.  "  Whom  have 
I  in  heaven  but  thee,  and  there  is  none  on  earth  that  I  desire 
beside  thee" — was  the  language  of  holy  Asaph — and  every 
holy  soul  that  has  ever  lived,  has  known,  that  in  communion 
with  God,  in  a  consciousness  of  his  love  and  favour,  and  in 
the  expectation  of  enjoying  his  blissful  presence  forever, 
there  is  ^present  enjoyment,  unspeakably  greater  than  all  the 
delights  of  sense,  or  than  all  that  the  pleasures  of  mere  intel- 
lect can  ever  afibrd. 

2.  God  is  enjoyed,  as  well  as  honoured,  by  trusting  him. 
It  is  equally  the  privilege,  the  duty,  and  the  comfort,  of  every 
child  of  God,  to  trust  Him  without  reserve,  and  with  un- 
shaken confidence.  "  We  know  that  all  things  work  together 
for  good,  to  them  that  love  God."  But  only  those  who  have 
experienced  it,  can  know  what  a  consolation  and  satisfaction 
there  is,  in  an  assured  belief  that  every  present  and  every 
future  event,  will  be  ordered  by  an  almighty,  and  an  infinitely 
wise  and  good  Being — and  ordered  for  the  greatest  good  of 


I 


32  LECTURES  ON  THE 

the  soul,  that  has  a  covenant  interest  in  his  friendship  and 
faithfulness.     But, 

3.  God  is  to  be  enjoyed  perfectly  and  eternally,  by  all  who 
make  the  glorifying  and  enjoying  of  Him  their  chief  end. 
This  is  expressly  stated,  in  the  answer  we  consider,  as  that  at 
which  we  ought  constantly  to  aim.  The  present  is  but  the 
bud  of  being — the  smallest  part,  the  incipient  stage  of  our  ex- 
istence. Time,  in  comparison  with  eternity,  is  as  nothing. 
We  ought,  therefore,  to  renounce  every  temporal  gratification 
and  pleasure  that  is  inconsistent  with  preparation  for  a  happy 
eternity;  and  to  disregard  all  pain,  and  privation,  and  suffer- 
ing, which  we  may  be  called  to  endure,  in  making  such  pre- 
paration— in  performing  duty,  or  in  showing  resignation  to 
the  will  of  God.  Heaven  is,  indeed,  in  all  cases  begun  on 
earth.  The  temper  that  qualifies  for  heaven  must  be  im- 
planted here ;  and  a  foretaste  of  its  joys  is,  in  some  measure, 
known  by  every  Christian  believer.  But  in  his  present  state, 
all  is  imperfect,  broken,  and  of  short  duration.  Soon  how- 
ever, he  will  escape  from  this  state  of  trial,  pass  beyond  the 
reach  of  all  his  enemies,  rise  an  immaculate  spirit  to  the  pre- 
sence of  his  Saviour — the  bosom  of  his  God — and  there  he 
will  enjoy  an  interminable  existence,  in  the  full  fruition  of 
his  Creator's  love,  and  an  unceasing  showing  forth  of  his 
glory. 

Two  short  reflections,  on  what  you  have  heard,  will  close 
the  present  discussion. 

1.  If  man's  chief  end  is  to  glorify  God  and  to  enjoy  him 
forever,  what  a  view  does  this  give  us  of  the  actual  state  of 
the  world,  and  the' general  pursuits  of  mankind  ?  Alas  !  how 
few  of  them — how  few,  even  among  those  who  live  under  the 
light  of  the  gospel — are  aiming  at  the  glory  of  God  and  the 
enjoyment  of  Him,  as  the  great  concern  of  life,  the  governing 
motive  of  all  they  do?  Are  not  a  very  large  majority  aim- 
ing at  every  thing  else,  rather  than  at  this?  Do  they  often 
even  think  of  this?  Are  they  not  eagerly  pursuing  every 
worldly  object,  every  temporal  concern — often  the  merest 
toys  and  trifles,  to  the  total  neglect  and  disregard  of  this  great 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  33 

end  of  their  being ;  which  yet  they  must  be  brought  to  regard,  or 
be  lost  forever.  Is  it  to  be  wondered  at,  that  those  who  know 
the  worth  of  the  soul  are  so  much  in  earnest — nay,  is  it  not 
wonderful  that  they  are  not  much  more  in  earnest — to  bring 
this  deluded  throng  to  consideration,  and  to  "  turn  them  from 
darkness  to  light,  and  from  the  power  of  Satan  unto  God ;" 
that  they  escape  the  awful  and  impending  danger  to  which 
they  are  exposed.    But, 

2.  Bring  this  subject,  my  dear  youth,  home  to  yourselves. 
Who  of  you  have — and  who  of  you  have  not — made  it  your 
chief  end,  to  glorify  God  and  to  enjoy  him  forever?  Those 
of  you  who  have  not — whose  consciences  tell  you  that  you 
have  not — ought  to  be  reminded — and  let  me,  in  faithfulness 
and  tenderness,  tell  you  plainly,  that  hitherto  you  have  liv^ed 
worse  fhan  in  vain.  The  chief  end  of  your  existence — the 
very  purpose  for  which  you  were  sent  into  the  world — you 
have  entirely  neglected  and  disregarded.  Such  neglect  and 
disregard,  even  on  the  supposition  that  you  have  been  charge- 
able with  no  flagrant  vice,  nay  on  the  supposition  that  you 
have  exhibited  an  amiable  example  before  the  world — such 
neglect  and  disregard  of  God  and  of  the  best  interests  of  your 
immortal  souls,  renders  you  unspeakably  guilty  in  his  sight. 
It  places  you  in  the  fearful  situation  of  living,  while  thus  you 
remain,  under  his  constant  displeasure;  and  in  danger  of 
being  cut  off  in  your  sins  and  rendered  miserable  forever. 
Be  intreated  therefore  to  consider  your  situation ;  to  think  of 
the  reasonableness  of  devoting  yourselves  to  God — of  your 
sacred  obligations  to  do  so ;  and  of  the  safety  and  happiness 
of  the  state  in  which  you  will  be  found,  if  you  make  it  your 
chief  end  to  glorify  God  and  to  enjoy  him  forever.  Implore 
the  aids  of  divine  grace,  to  enable  you  humbly  and  firmly  to 
form,  and  to  carry  into  effect,  the  resolution,  that  henceforth 
you  will  endeavour  to  act  as  becomes  your  rational,  moral, 
and  immortal  nature — that  you  will  regard  and  live  for  eter- 
nity more  than  for  time. 

But  I  rejoice  in  having  reason  to  believe  that  some  of  you 
have  already  devoted  yourselves,  unfeignedly  and  unrescrved- 

E 


34  LECTURES  ON  THE 

ly,  to  the  glory  and  service  of  God.  Thrice  happy  youth ! 
you  can  never  be  thankful  enough  for  that  rich  grace  which 
has  inclined  you,  in  the  morning  of  life,  to  make  this  dedica- 
tion. Be  not  high  minded  but  fear.  Study  to  adorn  the 
doctrine  of  God  your  Saviour  in  all  things.  Endeavour  to 
keep  your  chief  end  constantly  in  view,  through  the  whole  of 
your  subsequent  life — assured  that  the  more  fully  you  do  this 
— the  more  steadily  and  unreservedly  you  seek  to  glorify 
God — the  more  true  happiness  you  will  enjoy;  the  more  use- 
ful you  will  be  in  the  world,  and  the  more  exalted  will  be 
that  state  of  endless  felicity  on  which  you  will  enter,  when 
mortality  shall  be  swallowed  up  of  life.     Amen. 

Note. — The  author  is  willing  to  place  in  a  note,  what  he 
could  not  conveniently  introduce  into  the  lecture.  In  Exodus 
xxxii.  31 — 33,  we  thus  read — "And  Moses  returned  unto 
the  Lord,  and  said,  oh,  this  people  have  sinned  a  great  sin, 
and  have  made  them  gods  of  gold.  Yet  now  if  thou  wilt  for- 
give their  sin:  and  if  not,  blot  me,  I  pray  thee,  out  of  thy 
book  which  thou  hast  written.  And  the  Lord  said  unto 
Moses,  whosoever  hath  sinned  against  me,  him  will  I  blot 
out  of  my  book.^^  Scott's  admirable  commentary  on  this 
passage  is  in  the  following  words : 

"The  meaning  of  this  vehement  language  has  been  much  disputed:  and 
some  contend,  that  he  expressed  his  willingness  to  be  blotted  out  of  the  book 
of  life,  and  so  finally  to  perish,  provided  this  might  be  accepted  as  an  atone- 
ment for  the  sin  of  his  people;  and  they  put  the  same  construction  on  the 
words  used  by  St.  Paul,  on  something  of  a  similar  occasion.  But  this  inter- 
pretation seems  inadmissible :  for  the  spiritual  law  of  God  only  requires  us  to 
*love  our  neighbours  as  ourselves;'  not  more  than  ourselves,  which  surely  is 
implied,  in  being  willing  to  be  for  ever  miserable,  either  for  their  temporal  or 
eternal  salvation.  Even  Christ,  of  whom  Moses  is  supposed  to  have  been  a 
type  in  this  proffer,  was  only  willing  for  our  salvation  to  die  a  temporal  death, 
with  every  possible  circumstance  of  inward  and  outward  suffering;  not  to  be 
eternally  miserable :  and  the  apostle  says,  '  We  ought  to  lay  down  our  lives 
for  the  brethren ;'  not  that  we  ought  to  devote  our  souls  to  destruction  for 
them. — No  doubt  zeal  for  the  honour  of  God  glowed  in  the  heart  of  Moses, 
when  he  thus  expressed  himself;  and  perhaps  he  could  not  conceive,  how  that 
could  be  secured  and  manifested,  either  by  destroying  or  sparing  his  people. 
But  it  should  be  remembered,  that  not  only  final  misery,  but  final  desperate 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  35 

enmity  to  God,  is  implied  in  the  proposal,  if  thus  understood ;  and  it  is  won- 
derful that  any  man  should  think,  a  willingness  to  be  eternally  wicked  and  a 
desperate  hater  of  God,  can  spring  from  love  to  him,  and  be  a  proper  expres- 
sion of  zeal  for  his  glory  ! — If,  therefore,  Moses  referred  to  this  proposal,  when 
he  said,  '  Peradventure  I  shall  make  an  atonement  for  your  sin;'  the  words 
may  be  thus  paraphrased;  '  O  Lord,  instead  of  destroying  Israel  as  a  sacrifice 
to  thy  justice,  and  making  of  me  a  great  nation,  let  me  be  the  sacrifice,  and 
spare  them:  and  if  it  may  not  consist  with  thy  glory  to  spare  them  otherwise, 
and  my  death  may  suffice  for  that  purpose,  exclude  me  from  Canaan,  and  take 
me  out  of  life,  in  any  way  thou  seest  good,  that  my  people  may  be  preserved 
and  thy  name  glorified.' — But  perhaps  he  only  meant  to  say,  *  If  my  people 
must  be  destroyed,  cut  me  off  also,  and  let  me  not  survive  or  witness  their  de- 
struction.'— The  expression,  '  blot  me  out  of  thy  book,'  is  an  allusion  to  the 
affairs  of  men,  which  is  used  in  various  senses  in  the  scriptures,  as  may  be 
seen  by  the  marginal  references. — Whatever  Moses  meant  by  the  request,  the 
Lord  did  not  accede  to  it,  at  least  on  that  occasion;  but  only  answered,  that 
he  would  '  blot  those  who  had  sinned  out  of  his  book  ;'  that  is,  he  would 
punish  the  guilty,  not  the  innocent;  yet,  when  Moses  afterwards  offended 
God,  and  was  excluded  from  Canaan  while  his  people  inherited  it,  this  request 
may  seem  to  have  been  remembered  against  him. 

"  The  Lord,  in  commanding  Moses  to  lead  the  people  to  Canaan,  and  in  pro- 
mising that  his  angel  should  go  before  him,  intimated  that  he  would  not  imme- 
diately pour  out  his  vengeance  upon  them  to  destroy  them :  but  at  the  same 
time  he  declared,  that  this  national  violation  of  the  covenant  should  be  re- 
membered against  them,  when  their  other  crimes  should  induce  him  to  visit 
them  in  anger.  The  Jews  have  to  this  day  a  saying  current  among  them  to 
this  effect, '  That  all  the  calamities  which  have  ever  since  befallen  the  nation, 
have  in  them  a  measure  of  the  Lord's  indignation  for  the  sin  of  the  golden 
calf.' — We  are  not  informed  in  what  manner  He  plagued  the  people  at  this 
time ;  but  they  felt  sensibly  the  effects  of  his  displeasure  in  some  way  or 
other:  and  it  is  particularly  to  be  noticed,  that  however  Aaron  endeavoured 
to  exculpate  himself,  and  many  things  have  since  been  urged  in  his  excuse, 
yet  God  expressly  mentioned  him,  as  di  principal  agent  in  this  heinous  trans- 
gression of  Israel." 

It  will  be  perceived  that  the  sentiments  of  the  author  are  in 
full  accordance  with  those  of  this  able  divine  and  commenta- 
tor; and  that  Dr.  Scott  has  also  taken  occasion  to  speak  of  the 
other  text  to  which  reference  has  been  made,  and  to  give  his 
judgment  that  it  affords  no  countenance  to  the  opinion  con- 
troverted. But  in  regard  to  this  latter  text,  the  author  has 
long  been  of  the  opinion,  that  it  only  needs  to  be  fairly  trans- 
lated from  the  original,  to  show  that  it  has  no  relation  what- 
ever to  the  subject  in  dispute.  The  text  is  found  Rom.  ix.  3, 
and  stands  in  the  original  thus — Uux.oy'^^  r««f  uvto^  lyoi  ccmhf^^x 


36  LECTURES  ON  THE 

itvut  ccTTo  ToZ  X^io-rov  VT£^  rm  a^fPi^^yv  jttoy,  rm  cvyyevav  f4.ov  Kccru  coc^icoc^ 

The  first  part  of  this  verse.,  in  which  the  whole  difficulty  liesy 
our  translators  render — "  For  I  could  wish  myself  accursed 
from  Christ^' — Is  this  a  just  translation  ?  Let  those  decide 
who  have  any  tolerable  acquaintance  with  the  Greek  lan- 
guage. (1)  Hy;^oV'jv,  is  not  in  the  subjunctive  or  potential 
mood — I  could  wish;  but  in  the  imperfect  tense  of  the  indi- 
cative— I  wished  or  did  wish.  If  the  word  yiv^ofA.^^  had  been 
accompanied  with  the  potential  conjunction  «v,  it  might  have 
the  force  or  meaning  of  the  potential  mood.  Of  such  a  ren- 
dering of  verbs  in  the  indicative,  when  accompanied  with 
this  conjunction,  our  translation  of  the  New  Testament  exhi- 
bits a  number  of  unexceptionable  examples.  But  in  the  text 
under  consideration,  this  conjunction  is  not  found;  and  there- 
fore, unless  the  manifest  sense  of  the  passage  had  indispensa- 
bly demanded  it,  y>vx,of^7iv  ought  not  to  have  been  translated,  I 
could  wish;  but,  agreeably  to  its  proper  import,  I  wished  or 
did  wish — referring  not  to  i\\Q  present ,,  but  to  2.  former  state 
of  the  apostle's  mind.  This  correct  translation  of  i}v^ofA.iv  is 
given  by  Arias  Montanus,  '^  obtabam  enim  ipse  ego ;"  and 
by  our  countryman,  Charles  Thomson — "  for  I,  even  I  my- 
self, wished.^^  (2)  It  happens  that  this  verb,  in  the  very 
mood  and  tense,  in  which  it  is  found  in  the  text  we  are  consi- 
dering, is  read  in  one  other  place  in  the  New  Testament, 
Acts  xxvii.  29 — v)vx,<ivro  «35^£^sev  yiveorectt — rightly  rendered  by 
our  translators,  they  wished  for  the  day.  But  why  should 
Tivxovro  be  rendered  they  wished  in  this  text,  and  i^v^o^i^v,  I 
could  wish,  in  Rom.  ix.  3?  It  is  believed  that  no  satisfactor}'- 
reason  can  be  assigned  for  this  variation:  and  this  belief  is 
strengthened,  by  considering  how  the  sense  of  the  former 
pass'agc  would  have  been  sunk  and  almost  destroyed,  if  it  had 
been  translated  like  the  latter — It  would  surely  have  been  a 
very  flat  expression,  to  have  said  of  a  ship's  crew  in  a  dark 
and  tempestuous  night,  and  every  moment  in  danger  of  de- 
struction, that  "  they  could  have  wished  for  the  day.''^  Yet 
this  would  have  been  the  very  same  kind  of  translation  as  that 
of  the  text  we  consider.     (3)  In  another  respect,  as  well  as  in 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  87 

the  rendering  of  the  word  ^jv^of^^iiv,  the  common  translation 
seems  not  to  correspond  with  the  grammatical  structure  of 
the  original;  and  it  certainly  departs  from  the  government 
which  the  verb  ev^^o/^oci  is  seen  to  have  in  the  exactly  similar 
sentence  which  has  just  been  quoted.  In  that  sentence  this 
Greek  verb,  signifying  to  wish,  governs  the  noun  which  is 
the  subject  of  the  wish,  in  the  accusative  case — tjv^ovto  ^j^f^stv 
'yevetrSeti — they  wished  for  the  day.     But  in  the  passage  we 

consider— —Jjy;iiOi«'53''  y^^  ^7^  dvrcc,  ccvu^ejicoi  eDioci  ccTTo  Tov  X^KTTov — the 

words  eyo  uvroq,  which  our  translators  render  "myself,  and 
make  the  subject  of  the  wish,  are  not  in  the  accusative  case, 
but  in  the  nominative.  With  what  propriety  is  the  apostle 
here  represented  as  making  himself  tyu  uvro^ — the  subject  of 
his  wish?  According  to  the  translators'  own  rendering  in  the 
other  passage,  they  should  have  represented  uia^sfM. — a  sub- 
stantive in  the  accusative  case — as  the  subject  of  this  wish: 
i.  e.  they  should  have  represented  the  apostle  as  wishing  an 
anathem,a,  or  a  curse,  from  Christ;  and  not  as  wishing  him- 
self accursed  from  Christ.  It  occurs,  indeed,  that  the  trans- 
lators may  have  viewed  the  strict  rendering  of  this  passage  to 
be  this — "  For  I  myself  wished  to  be  an  anathema  from 
Christ" — and  that  they  considered  the  translation  they  have 
given  as  an  equivalent.  If  this  were  so,  it  may  justly  be  re- 
marked that  they  have  in  this  instance  translated  much  more 
freely  than  they  usually  do,  and  differently,  as  we  have  seen, 
from  what  they  did  in  a  similar  instance;  and  so,  moreover, 
as  not  really  to  give  the  sense  of  the  passage,  nor  in  the  man- 
ner which  best  agrees  with  the  structure  of  the  original  lan- 
guage. On  the  whole,  let  the  words  lyta  ccvro^  be  considered 
as  the  nominative  to  yivxot^vtv,  and  let  this  word  have  its  pro- 
per government  0^  avcthf^a,  in  the  accusative,  followed  by  the 
infinitive  mood  encct^  and  this  followed  by  ^^0  rov  x^iftov,  and 
let  these  words,  preceded  by  the  conjunction  ycc^,  be  strictly 
rendered — We  shall  then  have  a  translation  corresponding  ex- 
actly with  that  of  Acts  xxvii.  29,  and  the  only  one,  it  is  be- 
lieved, which  can  be  considered  as  correct.  It  will  stand 
thus — "  For  I  myself  did  wish  an  anathema  (or  a  curse)  from 


38  LECTURES  ON  THE 

Christ" — In  regard  to  the  rest  of  the  verse  there  is  no  dis- 
pute. 

It  may  now  be  asked,  what  is  the  meaning  of  the  whole 
verse?  I  answer,  that  it  is  at  least  evident  that  the  meaning 
is  not  that  which  is  communicated  by  the  common  transla- 
tion : — it  is  evident  that  the  apostle  is  not  here  speaking  of  the 
state  of  his  mind  when  he  wrote  the  epistle,  but  of  what  it 
had  been  long  before,  in  his  unconverted  state.  While  he 
was  in  that  deplorable  state,  and  "  exceedingly  mad"  against 
the  Redeemer  and  his  disciples,  he  had  "  wished  for  an  ana- 
thema," or  a  curse,  "  from  Christ,  for,"  or  concerning,  "  his 
brethren,  his  kindred  according  to  the  flesh."  To  what  spe- 
cifick  act,  or  acts,  he  might  here  have  reference,  he  does  not 
inform  us — He  elsewhere  tells  us,  however,  that  he  had  been 
a  blasphemer,  as  well  as  a  persecutor  and  injurious.  We 
also  know  that  he  was  brought  up  and  had  his  residence  at 
Jerusalem,  and  that  he  was  there  at  the  martyrdom  of  Ste- 
phen, and  "  kept  the  raiment"  of  those  who  slew  him.  This 
event  took  place  a  short  time,  probably  within  a  year,  after 
the  crucifixion  of  our  Lord.  Is  any  thing  more  probable  than 
that  the  apostle,  then  a  young  and  ardent  pharisee,  and  de- 
voted to  all  the  measures  and  views  of  the  Jewish  priest- 
hood, was  one  of  those  who  invoked  upon  themselves  the 
awful  curse — "  his  blood  be  upon  us  and  upon  our  children?" 
Or  if  he  did  not  join  in  the  cry,  at  the  very  time,  that  hearing 
of  it,  as  he  certainly  would,  he  had  openly  and  often  express- 
ed his  approbation  of  it,  and  thus  made  himself  a  party  to  it? 
And  is  it  not  probable  that,  together  with  his  general  charac- 
ter as  a  blasphemer,  he  might  have  this  dreadful  d^ci  particu- 
larly in  view?  If  so,  it  not  only  gives  great  force  to  the 
text,  but  great  strength  and  point  to  the  whole  context — Well 
might  he,  in  recollection  of  all  this,  have  "  great  heaviness 
and  constant  sorrow  in  his  heart;"  because  "on  his  bre- 
thren, his  kindred  according  to  the  flesh,"  he  had  invoked 
the  awful  anathema  which  he  now  saw  abiding  on  them.  He 
had,  by  the  immeasurable  grace  of  God  and  the  miraculous 
interposition  of  the  Saviour,  been  delivered  from  the  curse 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  3-9 

himself.  But  he  saw  that  the  most  of  them  were  still  under 
it,  and  likely  so  to  remain:  and,  in  contemplating  their  guilty 
and  impenitent  state,  he  could  call  (jod  to  witness,  that  he 
felt  "great  heaviness  and  constant  sorrow  of  heart.^'  Nor 
was  this  alleviated,  but  greatly  aggravated,  when  he  recol- 
lected that  the  people,  now  reduced  to  this  awful  situation, 
were  once  the  peculiar  people  of  God — "  Israelites  to  whom 
pertaineth  the  adoption,  and  the  glory,  and  the  covenants, 
and  the  giving  of  the  law,  and  the  service  of  God,  and  the 
promises;  whose  are  the  fathers,  and  of  whom,  as  concern- 
ing the  flesh,  Christ  came,  who  is  over  all  God  blessed  for- 
ever.    Amen.'' 

The  author  is  not  willing  to  close  this  extended  note,  in 
which  he  has  attempted  to  correct  what  he  conscientiously 
believes  to  be  an  error  in  the  common  English  version  of 
the  New  Testament,  without  remarking,  that  he  is  not  among 
those  who  believe  that  version  to  be  very  faulty,  and  of 
course  to  need  very  frequent  corrections.  On  the  contrary 
he  considers  it  as  one  of  the  very  best  translations  that  ever 
was,  or  ever  can  be  made ;  and  he  has  never  seen  any  other 
English  version,  even  of  a  single  book  of  this  part  of  the  sa- 
cred volume,  which,  taken  as  a  whole,  he  thought  equal  to 
the  vulgar  version.  Yet  to  suppose  that  this  version,  the 
work  of  fallible  men,  is  absolutely  perfect,  is  an  extreme  on 
the  other  side.  Nothing  but  the  original  is  perfect.  If  it 
can  be  shown  that,  in  a  few  instances,  the  eminently  learned, 
and  upright,  and  pious  men,  who  formed  the  vulgar  version, 
have,  through  that  imperfection  which  cleaves  to  every  thing 
human,  not  given  the  best  rendering  of  a  particular  phrase  or 
passage,  let  this  be  candidly  shown  ;  and  if  it  be  satisfactorily 
shown,  a  service  is  certainly  rendered  to  the  cause  of  truth. 
Whether  this  has  been  done,  in  the  present  instance,  let  com- 
petent judges  decide. 


40  LECTURES  ON  THE 


LECTURE  III. 

IPliat  rule  hath  God  given  to  direct  us  how  we  may  glorify  and 
enjoy  him? 

The  second  answer,  or  proposition,  of  our  catechism  is  thus 
expressed — 

*^  The  word  of  God,  contained  in  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old 
and  New  Testaments,  is  the  only  rule  to  direct  us,  how  we 
may  glorify  and  enjoy  him." 

Divine  revelation,, as  made  known  to  us  by  language,  is 
here  called  the  word  of  God;  and  is  said  to  be  contained  in 
the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  The  book 
which  is  formed  by  the  record  of  this  revelation  is  also,  you 
know,  commonly  called  the  Bible.  It  may  be  of  some  use 
to  consider,  very  briefly,  the  meaning,  and  the  propriety,  of 
these  several  terms  and  appellations. 

The  word  Bible — derived  from  the  Greek  word  /S/Caos, 
(Biblos) — means  the  bookj  by  way  of  eminence.  There  is 
great  propriety  in  this  appellation.  We  could  do  better 
without  all  the  other  books  in  the  world,  than  without  the' 
Bible.  It  is  from  this  alone  that  we  are  fully  taught  the  na- 
ture of  God,  our  duty  to  Him,  the  way  of  salvation  through 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, — the  way  to  escape  a  state  of  endless 
future  misery,  and  to  secure  a  state  of  endless  future  happi- 
ness. What  is  all  other  knowledge  compared  with  this? 
But  besides  this,  the  Bible  communicates  knowledge  of  a 
highly  important  kind.  It  gives  us  the  only  rational  account 
of  the  creation  of  the  world  which  we  inhabit;  of  the  original 
formation  and  state  of  man  ;  of  the  introduction  of  moral  evil 
into  the  world;  of  the  general  deluge;  and  of  the  early  his- 
tory of  mankind.  As  competent  a  judge  as  ever  lived — Sir 
William  Jones — wrote  on  a  blank  leaf  of  his. Bible,  the  fol- 
lowing character  of  this  sacred  book— "  I  have  carefully  and 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  41 

regularly  perused  these  Holy  Scriptures;  and  am  of  opinion, 
that  the  volume,  independently  of  its  divine  origin,  contains 
more  sublimity,  purer  morality,  more  important  history,  and 
finer  strains  of  eloquence,  than  can  be  collected  from  all  other 
books,  in  whatever  language  they  may  have  been  written/^ 
After  such  a  testimony,  from  the  first  scholar  of  his  age,  one 
would  suppose  that,  in  the  absence  of  better  motives,  a  regard 
to  character^  would  prevent  any  man  who  has  a  character  to 
preserve  or  to  acquire,  from  speaking  contemptuously  or 
slightingly  of  the  Bible. 

The  contents  of  the  Bible  are  called,  in  the  answer  before 
us,  "  the  scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments."  The 
term  Scriptures  is  synonymous  with  JVtntings ;  and  they 
are  called  the  Scriptures — that  is,  the  JVritiiigs — by  way  of 
eminence  :  For  the  same  reason  that  the  whole  volume,  as  we 
have  just  seen,  is  called  the  Bible,  or  the  book. 

The  sacred  writings  which  were  penned  before  the  coming  of 
Christ,  are  called  the  Old  Testament;  those  which  were  after- 
wards penned,  by  the  apostles  and  evangelists,  are  called  the 
New  Testament — The  reason  of  this  may  be  shortly  stated 
thus:  The  Hebrew  word  nn3  (Berith)  and  the  Greek  word 
Aiahx-v)  (Diatheke)  signify,  in  each  of  those  languages,  both  a 
covenant  and  a  testament ;  and  in  some  parts  of  the  sacred 
writings,  should  be  rendered  by  one  of  these  English  words, 
and  in  other  parts  by  the  other :  So  that  there  has  been  some 
difficulty,  and  some  difference  of  opinion,  in  deciding  which 
of  these  English  words  should  be  preferred,  as  the  general 
representative,  or  interpretation,  of  the  Hebrew  or  Greek 
term,  of  which  it  is  the  translation.  On  the  whole,  the  word 
Testament  has  been  preferred,  and  probably  with  justice. 
Now  observe,  that  after  the  sin  of  our  first  parents,  by  which 
they  broke  the  covenant  of  works,  under  which  they  were  in 
the  state  of  innocence,  it  pleased  God  to  form  with  them  ano- 
ther covenant,  called  the  covenant  of  grace.  This  was  made 
in  virtue  of  the  undertaking  of  Christ,  and  particularly  of  his 
atonement,  in  which  it  was  to  be  ratified  by  his  blood.  The 
Mosaick  or  Jewish  dispensation,  and  the  Christian  dispensa- 


42  LECTURES  ON  THE 

tion,  both  reier — you  must  be  careful  to  remember — to  the 
covenant  of  g;race,  sealed  with  the  blood  of  Christ.  Neither 
of  these  dispensations,  was  at  all  grounded  on  the  first,  or  old 
covenant  of  works,  which,  being  broken,  could  not  be  re- 
newed. But  inasmuch  as  the  Patriarchal,  and  the  Mosaic^k 
or  Jewish  dispensations,  looked  forward  to  the  death  of  the 
testator,  (as  our  Saviour  is  expressly  called  in  the  epistle  to 
the  Hebrews)  for  this  reason,  and  for  this  only,  ail  the  com- 
munications from  God  to  man  which  took  place  under  those 
dij^pensations, — the  inspired  writings  among  the  rest, —are 
called  the  old  covenant,  or  the  Old  Testament.  And  for  a 
like  reason,  all  the  divine  communications  and  institutions 
which  have  been  made  since  the  death  of  Christ,  under  the 
gospel  dispensation, — its  inspired  writings  especially, — are 
called  the  new  covenant,  or  the  New  Testament. 

Thus,  you  perceive,  the  Bible  consists  of  two  testaments, 
each  of  which  is  an  essential  part  of  it ;  and  therefore  the  lan- 
guage, which  you  sometimes  hear,  of  the  Bible  and  the 
Testament,  is  wholly  incorrect — the  Bible  includes  both 
Testaments.* 

The  sacred  writings  are  also  called,  in  the  answer  before 
us,  "the  word  of  God."  The  propriety  of  this  appellation 
may  be  shown  from  the  language  of  sacred  writ.  We  there 
read,  that  *'all  scripture  is  given  by  inspiration  of  God," — 
and  **The  prophecy  came  not  in  old  time  by  the  will  of 
man:  but  holy  men  of  God  spake  as  they  were  moved  by  the 
Holy  Ghost."  Hence  it  appears  that  the  scriptures  are,  with 
eminent  propriety,  called  the  word  of  God;  because  they 
are,  in  fact,  the  words  which  God  himself  addresses  to  men; 


*  The  first  time  that  the  author  remembers  to  have  seen  or  heard  the 
phrase — "  The  Bible  and  Testament,"  was  in  that  wretched  receptacle  of  vul- 
gar blasphemy,  Paine's  "  Age  of  Reason."  Since  then,  however,  he  has  ob- 
served its  use,  occasionally,  both  in  oral  and  written  speech.  It  is  by  no 
means  unimportant  to  preserve  the  idea  fully  in  the  popular  mind,  that  there 
is  no  Bible  which  does  not  contain  the  whole  of  God's  revealed  will ;  and  that 
although  it  may  be  both  lawful  and  expedient  to  publish  detached  parts  of  the 
sacred  volume,  yet  that  all  the  parts  are  of  equal  authority  ;  and  that  nei- 
ther the  Old  Testament  without  the  New,  nor  the  New  without  the  Old,  but 
both  conjointly,  constitute  the  Scriptures  of  truth,  the  Book  of  God, — the 
Bible. 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  43 

althouo;h  men  were  used  as  instruments  to  utter  these  words, 
in  the  languao;es  in  which  the  divine  oracles '^re  delivered  to 
us.  And  it  were  well  if  this  were  so  kept  in  mind,  as  that 
whenever  we  read  the  scriptures,  or  hear  them  read,  we 
should  recollect  that  the  voice  of  God  is  then  sounding  in  our 
ears.  This  would  be  to  act,  in  some  good  measure,  like 
those  Thessalonians  whom  St.  Paul  commends — *'  For  this 
cause  also,  (says  he)  thank  we  God  without  ceasing,  because, 
when  ye  received  the  worxi  of  God  which  ye  heard  of  us,  ye 
received  it,  not  as  the  word  of  men,  but  as  it  is  in  truth,  the 
word  of  God ;  which  effectually  worketh  also,  in  you  who  be- 
lieve." 

Here  it  may  be  proper  to  remark,  that  the  second  Person 
of  the  ever  blessed  Trinity  is  sometimes,  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, called  by  way  of  emphasis  the  Word  of  God: — be- 
cause (says  Parkhurst)  '*  he  hath  always  been  the  great  Reveal- 
er  to  mankind  of  Jehovah's  attributes  and  will ;  or  because,  as 
he  himself  speaketh.  Matt.  xi.  27,  No  one  knoweth  the  Fa- 
ther save  the  Son,  and  he  to  whomsoever  the  Son  will  reveal 
Him.'^  "  The  Divine  Person  (says  Macknight)  who  has  ac- 
complished the  salvaiion  of  mankind,  is  called  the  Word,  and 
the  Word  of  God,  Rev.  xix.  13,  not  only  because  God  at 
first  created,  and  still  governs  all  things  by  Him,  but  be- 
cause, as  men  discover  their  sentiments  and  designs  to  one 
another  by  the  intervention  of  words,  speech,  or  discourse,  so 
God,  by  his  Son,  discovers  his  gracious  designs,  in  the  fullest 
and  clearest  manner  to  men  :  All  the  various  manifestations 
which  he  makes  of  Himself  \n  the  works  oi  creation^  provi- 
dence and  redemption,  all  the  revelations  he  has  been  pleased 
to  give  of  his  will,  are  conveyed  to  us  through  Him;  and 
therefore  he  is  by  way  of  eminence  fitly  styled  The  Word 
or  God." 

But  though  Christ  our  Saviour  be  the  living  word  of 
God,  and  pre-eminently  worthy  of  this  appellation,  as  being 
the  grand  source  and  medium  of  all  the  divine  communica- 
tions made  to  intelligent  beings,  yet  this  is  no  reason  why  the 
communications  made  by  his  Spirit  to  holy  men,  and  in  their 


44  LECTURES  ON  THE 

language  announced  lo  the  world,  should  not  also  be  styled 
the  word  of  G6d.  By  them,  as  we  have  seen,  the  Spirit  of 
God  did  speak :  and  we  certainly  ought  to  have  no  difficulty, 
and  no  hesitation,  in  calling  what  they  spake,  as  recorded  in 
the  sacred  writings,  by  the  same  appellation  which  is  used 
freely  and  abundantly  by  themselves.  The  remainder  of  the 
time  to  which  this  discussion  must  be  confined,  would  scarce- 
ly suffice  to  recite  to  you  all  the  passages  of  the  sacred  vo- 
lume, in  which  parts  of  it  are  called  the  word  of  God,  or  in 
which  the  whole  of  it  is  so  denominated,  or  represented.  I 
shall  repeat  a  few  texts,  as  specimens  of  a  multitude  of  the 
same  character.  In  the  Old  Testament,  we  read  that  Samuel 
said  to  Saul — ^*  Stand  thou  still  a  while,  that  I  may  show  thee 
the  word  of  God — The  word  of  God  came  to  Shemaiah — The 
word  of  God  came  to  Nathan — Every  word  of  God  is  pure — 
The  word  of  our  God  shall  stand  for  ever— Wherewithal 
shall  a  young  man  cleanse  his  way?  By  taking  heed  thereto 
according  to  thy  word" — 

In  the  New  Testament,  we  find  our  Saviour  charging  the 
Scribes  and  Pharisees  with  "  making  the  word  of  God  of  none 
effect  by  their  traditions."  We  are  told  that  "  the  word  of 
God  came  unto  John  in  the  wilderness" — That  the  multitude 
pressed  upon  our  Saviour  "  to  hear  the  word  of  God" — That 
the  seed,  in  a  parable  which  he  spake,  was  "the  word  of 
God."  "  My  brethren  (said  he)  are  those  which  hear  the 
word  of  God,  and  do  it," — And  "  blessed  are  they  that  hear 
the  word  of  God  and  do  it."  We  are  told  that  the  apostles-^ 
"spake  the  word  of  God  with  all  boldness" — that  the  "  word 
of  God  increased  in  Jerusalem" — that  "  Samaria  received  the 
word  of  God" — that  "  the  whole  city  came  together  to  hear 
the  word  of  God" — and  that  "  faith  cometh  by  hearing,  and 
hearing  by  the  word  of  God."  Now,  no  one,  it  seems  to 
me,  can  say  that  Jesus  Christ  is,  in  all  these  passages,  refer- 
red to,  as  the  word  of  God — without  such  a  perversion  of 
speech,  and  such  a  violation  of  the  whole  context,  as  must 
destroy  the  very  use  and  import  of  language.  Let  none, 
then,  have  a  scruple  in  calling  the  scriptures  what  they  so  fre- 
quently call  themselves. 


SHORTER    CATECHISM.  45 

You  have  heard  that  the  reason  why  the  scriptures  are  call- 
ed the  word  of  God  is,  that  they  were  given  hy  divine  inspi- 
ration— "  holy  men  of  God  spake  as  they  were  moved  by  the 
Holy  Ghost. ^'  To  the  nature  and  evidence  of  this  divine  in- 
spiration I  propose  to  call  your  attention  distinctly,  in  the 
next  lecture.  The  remainder  of  the  present  must  be  employ- 
ed in  saying  something  in  answer  to  a  previous  inquiry, 
which  it  is  natural  to  make,  namely,  whether  the  writings 
of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  as  we  now  have  them,  may 
fairly  be  considered  as  containing  a  faithful  record  of  what  was 
originally  the  inspired  word  of  God  ?  Without  pretending  to 
enter  fully  into  this  subject,  I  will  endeavour  to  give  you  a 
summary  of  the  most  important  facts,  and  of  other  informa- 
tion in  relation  to  it. 

There  are,  you  know,  some  writings,  mentioned  and  re- 
ferred to  in  the  Old  Testament — such  as,  "The -book  of  the 
wars  of  the  Lord,  the  book  of  Jasher,  the  book  of  Nathan  the 
prophet,  the  book  of  Gad  the  seer" — and  several  others, 
which  have  not  come  down  to  us.  It  is  not  certain,  and  I 
think  not  probable,  that  these  books  were  ever  considered  by 
the  ancient  Jews  as  of  equal  authority  with  those  which  have 
been  preserved,  and  which  are  now  acknowledged,  both  by 
Jews  and  Christians,  as  canonical  scripture.  Perhaps  they 
were  considered  as  good  historical  records,  but  not  as  possess- 
ing divine  authority.  This,  however,  is  a  doubtful  point. 
But  it  is  not  doubtful,  that  since  they  have  not  been  transmit- 
ted to  us,  they  have  not  been  judged  by  Him  who  has  so 
wonderfully  watched  over  the  preservation  of  his  revealed 
truth,  to  contain  any  thing  important  to  be  known  in  the 
church  of  Christ — From  that  church  we  cannot  believe  that 
her  divine  Head  has  permitted  any  information  to  be  with- 
held, which  her  edification  and  comfort  demand. 

In  regard  to  the  books  which  compose  what  is  called  The 
Apocrypha,  it  may  be  sufficient  to  remark,  that  although  the 
most  of  them  appear  to  have  been  written  by  Jews,  yet  that 
none  of  them  were  written  in  the  Hebrew  language;  that 
they  were  certainly  written  after  the  days  of  Malachi,  with 


46  LECTURES  ON  THE 

whom,  according  to  thq  universal  testimony  of  the  Jews,  the 
spirit  of  prophecy  ceased  ;  that  they  never  have  been  acknow- 
ledged by  the  Jews  as  canonical  scripture;  that  the  writers  of 
them  do  not  themselves  lay  claim  to  inspiration;  that  they 
certainly  contain  some  things  which  are  fabulous  and  contra- 
dictory  ;  that  they  are  never  quoted  or  referred  to  by  the 
winters  of  the  New  Testament ;  that  they  are  manifestly  de- 
void of  that  majesty  and  simplicity  in  the  composition,  which 
characterise  the  prophetick.  and  historical  writings  of  the  Old 
Testament;  and  that  they  were  not  received  as  canonical.,  in 
the  first  three  centuries  of  the  Christian  church.  Although, 
therefore,  the  Romish  church  receives  these  boooks  as  canoni- 
cal, they  are,  as  such,  rejected  by  all  Protestant  churches. 
The  church  of  Eng;land  directs  them  to  be  read  ^^  for  example 
of  life  and  instruction  of  manners;'^  but  other  reformed 
churches  regard  them  merely  as  they,  regard  other  human 
compositions — as  containing  some  true  history  and  some  ex- 
cellent maxims  of  wisdom,  but  still  mingled  With  much  error 
and  imperfection. 

There  seenis  to  be  satisfactory  evidence  that  the  Canon  of 
the  Old  Testament  was  settled  by  Ezra,  down  to  his  time, 
about  450  years  before  Christ.  Ezra  was  himself  an  inspired 
writer;  and  therefore  may  be  considered  as  giving  authenti- 
city to  the  whole  which  he  reviewed.  He  probably  added 
the  last  chapter  of  Deuteronomy,  in  which,  if  it  were  supposed 
to  be  written  by  Moses,  he  would  be  exhibited  as  giving  an 
account  of  his  own  death  and  burial.  Several  other  additions, 
in  the  opinion  of  the  learned  Dean  Prideaux,  were  made  by 
Ezra,  which  infidel  writers  have  cavilled  at,  as  affording 
ground  for  charging  the  Bible  with  forgeries  and  falsehoods. 
But  if  these  additions — very  useful  to  give  us  some  important 
information — were  made  under  the  same  infallible  guidance 
with  which  the  other  parts  of  the  sacred  volume  were  written, 
and  by  a  confessedly  inspired  writer,  you  perceive  that  this 
charge  is  utterly  futile  and  groundless. 

The  books  of  Chronicles,  Ezra,  Nehemiah,  Esther  and 
Malachi,  were  probably  placed  in  the  sacred  canon,  by  Simon 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  47 

the  Just,  the  last  of  the  men  who  composed  what  has  been  de- 
nominated the  o;reat  Synago2;ue.* 

The  Jews,  it  is  known,  have  ever  been,  in  the  hig:hest  de- 
gree, jealous  of  their  sacred-  wrltinojs.  They  counted  the 
words,  and  even  the  letters,  of  which  these  writings  consisted, 
that  they  might  be  able  to  know  with  certainty  that  nothing 
had  been  added  to,  or  subtracted  from  them.  There  is  in- 
deed, I  think,  some  reason  to  believe,  that  since  the  time  of 
our  Saviour,  they  have  attempted  to  corrupt  a  few  passages, 
which  went  to  prove  most  plainly  that  Jesus  was  the  Christ. 
But  the  attempt  was  made  too  late  to  be  successful.  They 
could  not  corrupt  all  the  copies.  And  even  if  they  could,  the 
whole  of  their  sacred  books  had,  before  tliis  time,  been  faith- 
fully translated  into  other  languages.  The  first  version,  that 
of  the  Septuagint, — so  called  from  its  being  supposed  to  be 
the  work  of  seventy-two  Jews, — was  made  into  Greek,  a  con- 
siderable time  before  the  coming  of  Christ  ;  and  is  that  which 
is  generally  quoted  by  our  Lord  and  his  apostles  in  the  New 
Testament. 

The  New  Testament,  you  are  aware,  was  written  in  Greek. 
Some  think  that  Matthew  was  written  in  Syro-Chaldaick,  the 
language  of  the  Jews  in  the  time  of  Christ,  and  for  their  par- 
ticular benefit.  This,  however,  is  questionable.  It  seems 
most  probable,  that  the  whole  of  this  part  of  the  Bible,  was 
originally  penned  in  the  Greek  language, — then  the  most  uni- 
versally known  of  any  in  the  world,  and  into  which,  as  you 
have  heard,  the  Old  Testament  had  already  been  translated, 
and  with  such  fidelity  as  to  have  been  quoted,  and  thereby 

*  "  What  the  Jews  called  the  great  Synagogue,  were  a  number  of  elders 
amounting  to  120,  who  succeeding,  some  after  others,  in  a  continued  series, 
from  the  return  of  the  Jews  again  into  Judea  after  the  Babj'lonish  captivity, 
to  the  time  of  Simon  the  Just,  laboured  in  the  restoring  of  the  Jewish  church 
and  state  in  that  country ;  in  order  whereunto  the  holy  scriptures  being  the 
rule  they  were  to  go  by,  their  chief  care  and  study  was,  to  make  a  true  collec- 
tion of  those  scriptures,  and  publish  them  accurately  to  the  people.  Ezra,  and 
the  men  of  the  great  Synagogue  that  lived  in  his  time,  completed  this  work  as 
far  as  I  have  said.  And  as  to  what  remained  farther  to  be  done  in  it,  where 
can  we  better  place  the  performing  of  it,  and  the  ending  and  finishing  of  the 
whole  thereby,  than  in  that  time,  where  those  men  of  the  great  Synagogue 
ended  that  were  employed  therein,  that  is,  in  the  time  of  Simon  the  Just,  who 
was  the  last  of  them?" — Prideauz's  Con.  vol.  i.  pages  573, 574. 


48  LECTURES  ON  THE 

sanctioned,  by  our  Lord  himself.  If  the  gospel  of  Matthew 
was  first  written  in  the  Jews'  language,  it  might  also,  in  the 
time  of  the  apostles,  have  been  rendered  into  Greek. 

It  seems  probable  that  before  the  death  of  the  apostle  John, 
who  lived  till  about  the  commencement  of  the  second  century, 
the  most  of  the  scriptures  were  translated  into  the  Latin,  if 
not  also  into  the  Syriack  tongue.  The  Syrians  of  India,  it 
appears,  still  maintain  that  their  New  Testament  is  not  a  trans- 
lation, but  a  copy  of  the  original.  In  this  there  is  reason  to 
believe  they  err;  but  their  translation,  it  is  certain,  was  made 
very  early, — as  well  as  the  Ethiopick,  Armenian,  and  several 
others.  Now,  if  there  had  ever  been  a  wish  to  corrupt  the 
New  Testament, — which  it  does  not  appear  that  there  was  in 
the  two  first  centuries,  except  by  a  few  hereticks, — the  thing 
could  not  be  done;  because  copies  had  been  so  multiplied,  and 
faithful  translations  so  fully  made,  that  the  true  reading  could 
be  easily  ascertained. 

It  seems  proper  that  I  should  here  take  some  notice  of  the 
various  readings  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  in  the  origi- 
nal languages ;  as  this  is  a  subject  in  regard  to  which  erroneous 
notions  are  often  entertained  and  propagated.  These  various 
readings  were,  indeed,  a  fruitful  theme  of  infidel  declamation, 
for  a  long  time.  But  it  led  eventually,  as  other  infidel  objec- 
tions have  always  led,  to  a  more  full  and  satisfactory  establish- 
ment of  sacred  truth.  Dr.  Kennicott  of  England,  who  took 
the  lead  in  this  important  undertaking,  and  a  most  learned 
Italian  by  the  name  of  De  Rossi  since,  have  collated,  or  com- 
pared, all  the  manuscript  copies  of  the  Hebrew  scriptures, 
which  they  could  find  in  the  whole  world,  as  well  as  some  of 
the  earliest  printed  copies,  and  have  given  a  fair  exhibition  of 
the  various  readings  in  all.  The  same  has  been  most  labo- 
riously done,  in  regard  to  the  New  Testament,  by  a  consi- 
derable number  of  learned  men.  And  what  has  been  the  re- 
sult? Truly  the  number  of  various  readings  is  great,  and  at 
first  sight  might  appear  formidable.  But  examine  them  care- 
fully and  candidly,  and  not  only  does  the  fear  of  a  corrupted 
Bible  vanish,  but  the  integrity  of  the  sacred  text,  is  most 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  49 

wonderfully  established.  Ninety-nine  hundredths  of  them— 
I  think  I  may  safely  say — are  manifest  slips  of  the  pen,  mis- 
takes or  oversig;hts  of  transcribers,  or  errors  of  the  press — ex- 
actly like  what  you  may  see  in  a  collection  of  the  same  kind, 
made  by  Mr.  Carey,  in  his  first  edition  of  our  translation  of 
the  Bible,  printed  in  this  city;  and  like  what  you  may  now 
find,  in  almost  all  the  Bibles  that  you  daily  read.  But  do  any 
of  you  think  that  you  are  in  danger  of  mistaking  the  truths  of 
your  Bible,  because  of  these  errors  of  the  press?  You  know 
you  do  not. — And  competent  judges  have  given  it  as  their 
opinion,  that  the  most  corrupt  copy  of  the  Greek  New  Testa- 
ment that  can  be  found,  if  taken  altogether,  would  not  change 
one  important  truth  of  the  sacred  volume. 

You  will  not  understand,  however,  that  among  these  va- 
rious readings  there  are  not  some  of  very  considerable  impor- 
tance— for  ascertaining  the  true  sense  of  particular  passages, 
and  with  a  view  to  determine  whether  certain  clauses  or 
periods,  ought  to  be  retained  or  rejected.  But  when  the 
whole  are  brought  together  and  compared,  the  true  reading  is, 
in  general,  not  difficult  to  be  judged  of;  and  the  mind  of  the 
biblical  scholar  is  satisfied,  and  even  delighted,  to  find  that 
his  faith  in  scripture  is  not  shaken,  but  greatly  confirmed. — 
To  find,  that  although  a  perpetual  miracle  has  not  been 
wrought — for  nothing  less  would  have  been  sufficient — to 
prevent  the  slips  and  errors  of  transcribers  and  printers,  yet 
that  the  providence  of  God  has  manifestly  and  wonderfully 
preserved  his  revealed  truth,  so  that  it  has  remained  uncor- 
rupted  to  the  present  time.  It  is  well  observed  by  Griesbach 
that,*  "  The  word  of  God  is  not  changed,  when  a  term  or 
two  is  expunged,  or  added,  or  changed  for  another,  in  the 

*  Deinde  non  ideo  verbum  Dei  mutatur,  quia  in  textu  vulgar!  unurn  alte- 
rumve  vocabulum  deletur  aut  additur  aut  cum  alio  permutatur.  Quod,  he- 
braico  magis  quam  latino  nomine,  verbum  Dei  appellate  sclent,  continetur 
sensu  scripturae  sacrse  ;  non  autem  ita  in  ipsis  syllabis  atque  Uteris  consistet, 
ut  mutato  (ob  gravissimas  rationes  et  auctoritates,  ac  salvo  sensu)  vocabulo 
quodam,  ipsum  Dei  verbum,  hoc  est  doctrina  Christi  ac  apostolorum,  pereat. 
*  *  *  *  '^  Verbum  D^i  manet  in  ccternum !  Nee  incertum  sit  studiis  critico- 
rum  modestorum  atque  piorum,  qui  unice  id  agunt,  ut,  Deo  auxiliante,  quam 
posBunt  maxime  verbum  divinum  reddant  certissimum.-~-Pro/ro-,  sect.  i. 


50  LECTURES  ON  THE 

vulgar  text.  That  which  is  usually  called  the  Word  of  God, 
agreeably  to  a  Hebrew  rather  than  a  Latin  appellation,  is  con- 
tained in  the  sense  of  sacred  scripture;  and  does  not  so  de- 
pend on  syllables  and  letters,  as  that  the  real  word  of  God, 
that  is,  the  doctrine  of  Christ  and  the  apostles,  is  destroyed, 
when  (on  the  best  reason  and  authority,  and  with  a  perfect 
preservation  of  the  sense,)  a  particular  term  is  changed — The 
WORD  OF  God  endureth  forever!  Nor  is  it  rendered  un- 
certain by  the  labours  of  modest  and  pious  criticks,  whose 
sole  aim  it  is,  that  by  the  help  of  God,  they  may  render  the 
divine  word  as  "certain  as  possible." 

In  translating  the  revealed  will  of  God  out  of  the  original 
into  other  languages,  an  accurate  knowledge  of  both,  as  well  as 
the  greatest  care  and  fidelity,  ought  certainly  to  be  possessed 
by  the  translators.  And  these  were  unquestionably  the  quali- 
fications, and  that  in  a  very  eminent  degree,  of  those  who 
formed  our  common  English  translation  of  the  Bible.  I  do 
not  believe  they  are  chargeable  with  a  known  or  wilful  per- 
version, of  a  single  phrase  or  word  of  the  original  text. 
After  a  diligent  and  repeated  comparison,  for  myself,  of  the 
whole  of  this  translation  of  the  New  Testament  with  the  ori- 
ginal Greek,  and  the  various  readings  of  Griesbach,  I  do 
think  that  it  gives  one  of  the  best  exhibitions  of  the  truth  of 
God,  in  that  portion  of  his  holy  word,  that  ever  was  or  ever 
can  be  made.  I  do  not  say  that  the  translation  is  perfect. — 
It  is  human,  and  it  ought  to  be  considered  as  fairly  open  to 
every  real  improvement.  Particular  words  and  passages 
might  doubtless  be  somewhat  more  perfectly  rendered.  But 
hundreds  of  proposed  amendments  would,  if  made,  be,  in  my 
opinion,  changes  for  the  worse,  and  not  for  the  better.  And 
it  is  not  without  great  regret  that  I  ever  hear  this  translation, 
or  any  part  of  it,  spoken  of  in  a  manner  which  is  calculated, 
although  it  be  not  intended,  to  make  an  unlettered  Christian 
distrust  its  fidelity  and  general  accuracy.  It  certainly  is  both 
faithful  and  accurate,  beyond  what  can  usually  be  met  with, 
or  hoped  for,  in  productions  merely  human. 

In  regard  to  the  Old  Testament,  although  the  fidelity  of  the 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  51 

translators  was  as  great,  doubtless,  in  rendering;  that,  as  in  the 
other  jDart  of  their  work,  and  although  they  were  certainly 
well  acquainted  with  the  Hebrevv  language,  yet  they  did  lack 
some  means  of  making  a  perfect  translation,  which  have  been 
furnished  since  their  time.  By  the  aid  of  these  means,  Lowth 
has  given  a  new  translation  of  the  prophecy  of  Isaiah;  and 
some  other  parts  of  the  Old  Testament  have  been  translated  by 
others,  in  such  manner  as  to  be,  at  least  in  the  opinion  of 
many,  a  sensible  improvement  of  the  old  version.  Yet  even 
here,  the  principal  improvement  lies  in  removing  some  ob- 
scurities, and  bringing  to  view  some  latent  beauties  and  ener- 
gies, of  the  original  writers.  So  far  as  I  can  judge  and  recol- 
lect, they  do  not  exhibit,  in  the  old  version,  a  single  error 
so  connected  with  either  faith  or  practice,  as  to  be  important 
to  the  common  reader. 

The  truth  is,  that  almost  every  language  has  peculiarities 
that  cannot  be  perfectly  translated.  Those  who  are  familiar 
with  the  original  languages  of  the  Bible,  see  these  peculiari- 
ties, and  wish  to  transfuse  them  into  a  translation.  But  when 
they  attempt  it,  they  often  find  that  they  have  not  succeed- 
ed a  whit  better  than  others  had  done  before.  Dr.  Young 
has  remarked,  ''  that  the  numerous  attempts  to  translate  Ho- 
mer, show  that  Homer  has  never  been  translated."  Those 
who  read  the  wonderful  poems  of  that  ancient  author  in  the 
original,  see  some  beauties  which  they  do  not  see  in  any 
translation.  They  try  to  transfer  these  beauties  into  their 
mother  tongue,  and  they  fail,  like  all  their  predecessors.  It 
is  exactly  so  with  the  incomparable  originals  of  the  holy  scrip- 
tures. Many  attempts  at  a  new  and  more  perfect  transla- 
tion have,  on  the  whole,  not  been  as  successful  as  those  which 
preceded  them.  For  myself,  I  strongly  incline  to  the  opi- 
nion, that  any  new  translation  of  the  whole  Bible  which 
could  now  be  obtained,  would  not,  take  it  altogether,  be  as 
good  as  the  old.  Particular  passages  would  probably  be 
improved,  but  the  defects  in  other  respects,  would,  it  is  like- 
ly, more  than  counterbalance  all  the  improvements.  If  we 
could  have  a  Bible  in  which  the   common  version  should 


52  LECTURES  ON  THE 

stand  as  it  is,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  places  in  which 
criticks  and  commentators  are  much  a£:reed  that  changes 
might  be  made  for  the  better,  and  agreed  too  in  regard  to 
w^hat  the  changes  should  be,  it  would,  I  think,  be  desirable. 
But  such  a  work  is  scarcely  to  be  hoped  for;  and  to  one  in 
which  the  changes  should  be  numerous  and  extensive,  there 
is,  in  my  mind,  the  most  serious  objections.  As  the  matter 
now  stands,  those  who  take  an  interest  in  revealed  truth,  al- 
though entirely  unacquainted  with  the  original  languages  of 
the  Bible,  can,  and  often  do,  learn  from  commentators  and 
preachers  of  the  gospel,  what  can  be  said  in  favour  of  an  im- 
proved rendering  of  certain  words  and  phrases.  It  seems 
better  to  leave  the  matter  here,  than  to  attempt  something 
which  may  not  be  at  once  safe  and  practicable. 

In  fine,  my  young  friends,  let  nothing  that  you  hear — and 
sometimes,  I  admit,  very  properly  hear — about  the  import  of 
this  or  that  original  word,  or  phrase,  lead  you  to  suspect  that 
you  do  not  read  the  true  sense  of  the  sacred  scriptures,  in  the 
common  or  vulgar  version  of  your  Bibles.  Take  from 
speakers,  or  commentators,  every  real  illustration  of  the  ori- 
ginal sacred  text,  which  they  may  satisfy  you  that  they  fur- 
nish. This  you  ought  certainly  to  do.  But  rely  upon  it, 
every  thing  which  goes  to  inv^alidate  a  doctrine  or  truth, 
which  you  find  in  a  plain  passage  of  your  Bible,  as  you  now 
have  it, — especially  if  it  is  confirmed  by  other  passages— is  a 
deception.  Here  is  the  true  test — Is  the  doctrine  questioned 
in  a  particular  text,  clearly  taught  in  other  texts .^  If  it  be. 
let  the  critick  have  his  way^>ather  than  trouble  yourselves 
much  about  it. — He  may  be  right,  or  he  may  be  wrong. 
But  the  doctrine  in  question  is  true,  if  it  is  clearly  taught  in 
any  part  of  the  sacred  volume,  and  especially  if  it  be  repeat- 
edly taught.  And  as  to  all  attempts  to  make  those  who  can- 
not judge  for  themselves  of  the  original  languages  of  scrip- 
ture, believe  that  the  vulgar  version  does  net  give  a  right 
view  of  any  important  truth  of  revelation,  they  ought  to  be 
regarded  as  attempts  of  the  most  wicked  and  mischievous 
kind. 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  53 

Let  me  now,  in  closing  this  lecture,  beg  your  very  serious 
attention  to  two  or  three  remarks  and  advices  of  a  practical 
kind,  arising  out  of  what  you  have  heard  at  this  time.  1.  Of- 
ten think  on  the  treasure  which  you  possess  in  having  the 
Bible — having  it  in  your  own  hands,  and  being  able  to  read 
it  in  your  own  language.  This  is  not  thought  on,  a  hundredth 
part  as  much  as  it  ought  to  be;  nor  with  any  proper  measure 
of  that  lively  gratitude  to  God,  for  his  distinguishing  favour 
in  this  respect,  which  all  who  have  received  the  favour  ought 
to  feel  and  to  express.  The  Bible  is  really  the  sun  of  the 
moral  system.  Take  it  from  the  world,  and  a  night  of  ig- 
norance and  vice,  of  the  most  awful  kind,  would  immediately 
succeed.  There  is  not  now  a  people  on  the  face  of  the  earth 
who  are  not  idolaters,  except  those  whom  the  Bible  has  kept 
from  being  so.  There  never  was  a  people  that  did  not  run 
into  idolatry,  of  some  kindj  unless  presL^rved  from  it  by  re- 
velation. The  Mahometans  form  no  exception.  The  Koran 
borrowed  from  the  Bible  the  doctrines  which  keep  Mus- 
sulmen  from  worshipping  idols.  The  most  learned  and  re- 
fined nations  of  heathen  antiquity,  the  Egyptians,  Babylo- 
nians, Greeks,  and  Romans,  were  more  various,  and  more 
sottish,  in  their  idolatry,  than  the  barbarous  nations  they 
despised.  The  Chinese,  and  Hindoos,  in  modern  times,  are 
all  idolaters,  in  some  form  or  other.  Yes,  and  but  for  the 
Bible,  you,  my  dear  youth,  in  place  of  coming  here  this  even- 
ing to  worship  the  true  God,  and  to  hear  of  this  blessed  book, 
might  have  come  here  to  v^rorship  stocks  or  stones,  and  some 
of  you  to  be  offered  in  sacrifice  to  an  idol.  Bind  the  Bible  to 
your  hearts.  Never  open  it  but  with  reverence,  as  the  re- 
vealed will  of  God. — Never  open  it  without  gratitude  to  God, 
that  he  has  revealed  his  will  to  man;  and  that  he  has  given 
you  the  happy  lot  to  possess  this  inestimable  treasure. 

2.  Remember  that  where  God  has  given  much,  he  will  re- 
quire the  more.  "  This  (said  our  Saviour)  is  the  condemna- 
tion, that  light  has  come  into  the  world,  and  men  have  loved 
darkness  rather  than  light,  because  their  deeds  were  evil. — 
The  servant  that  knew  his  Lord's  will,  and  did  it  not,  shall 


54  LECTURES  ON  THE 

be  beaten  with  many  stripes.'^  It  is  the  greatest  of  mercies 
to  live  under  the  light  of  the  gospel;  but  it  will  prove  the 
greatest  of  curses  to  die  under  that  light — to  all  whom  the 
gospel  shall  not  have  made  wise  unto  salvation.  Yes,  verily, 
this  gospel  will  either  prove  "  the  savour  of  life  unto  life,  or 
of  death  unto  death,"  to  all  who  are  acquainted  with  it.  The 
possession  of  it  is  a  privilege,  a  talefit,  a  treasure,  for  which 
you  have  a  high  and  solemn  account  to  render.  Now,  that 
you  may  render  up  this  account,  "  with  joy,  and  not  with 
grief,"  let  me — 

3dly.  Most  earnestly  and  tenderly  counsel  and  exhort  you, 
not  only  to  read  and  study  the  scriptures  with  diligence  and 
care,  so  that  your  minds  may  be  thoroughly  embued  with  di- 
vine truth,  but  to  seek  earnestly  of  God  the  influences  of  his 
Holy  Spirit — that  same  blessed  Agent  by  whom  the  scrip- 
tures were  indited — to  seal  his  word  on  your  hearts,  to 
<*  sanctify  you  through  the  truth."  Never  be  content  with  in- 
tellectual attainments  merely,  in  scriptural  knowledge.  This 
knowledge  is  valuable  chiefly  with  a  view  to  lis  practical  in- 
fluence. Let  me  particularly  recommend  that  you  daily 
read  the  holy  scriptures,  not  only  with  seriousness  but  with 
prayer.  Yes,  let  not  the  day  pass,  in  ordinary  circumstances, 
in  which  you  do  not  attentively  peruse  at  least  a  small  por- 
tion of  the  word  of  life,  accompanied  with  earnest  prayer  that 
God  may  bless  it  to  your  souls.  I  question  if  this  practice 
was  ever  long  continued  without  sensible  benefit.  Try  it, 
precious  youth,  and  ma}^  God  grant  that  the  benefit  you  derive 
from  it,  may  be  not  only  sensible  but  saving. 

4.  Take  your  part,  cordially  and  actively,  in  endeavouring 
to  put  the  sacred  scriptures  into  the  hands  of  those  who  have 
hitherto  remained  ignorant  of  them.  It  is  your  happiness  to 
live  at  a  time  when  vigorous  exertions  are  making,  both  to 
translate  the  word  of  God  into  many  languages  in  which  it  has 
never  yet  been  read,  and  to  enable  and  persuade  those  whom 
poverty  or  carelessness  have  hitherto  kept  from  reading  it  in 
the  languages  into  which  it  has  already  been  translated,  to 
avail  themselves  of  the  richest  blessing  which  a  gracious  God 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  55 

has  ever  bestowed  on  a  guilty  world.  In  this  holy  work, 
this  heavenly  charity,  cherish  a  sacred  emulation  to  take  your 
full  share.  Whether  male  or  female,  let  no  individual  who  is 
not  now  a  member  of  a  Bible  society,  or  who  has  not  contri- 
buted something  to  the  Bible  cause,  neglect  any  longer  to 
partake  in  the  honour,  the  happiness,  and  the  duty,  of  patron- 
ising and  promoting  such  institutions.  To  the  rising  genera- 
tion, the  whole  of  this  labour  of  love,  this  inestimably  impor- 
tant concern,  must  soon  be  committed.  And  as  they  will  an- 
swer it  to  God  and  to  perishing  millions,  they  should  look 
well,  that  they  neither  shrink  from  the  labour,  nor  perform 
it  slothfully.  Rather  let  them  far  exceed,  as  we  hope  they 
will,  all  that  their  fathers  have  done;  and  receive,  in  the 
largest  measure,  the  high  reward  of  those,  who,  having  "  turn- 
ed many  unto  righteousness,  shall  shine  as  the  stars  for  ever 
and  ever." 


LECTURE  IV. 

J'Vhat  rule  hath  God  given  to  direct  us  how  we  may  glorify  and 
enjoy  him? 

In  our  last  lecture  we  entered  on  the  discussion  of  the  se- 
cond answer  in  our  catechism,  in  which  it  is  affirmed  that — 
"  the  word  of  God,  contained  in  the  scriptures  of  the  Old  and 
New  Testament,  is  the  only  rule  to  direct  us,  how  we  may 
glorify  and  enjoy  him." 

It  is  not  my  intention  to  recapitulate  any  part  of  what  was 
then  delivered;  as  we  shall  need  the  whole  of  our  time  to 
discuss  the  important  points  to  which  it  was  intimated  that 
your  attention  would  now  be  called.  These  are,  the  nature 
and  evidences  of  divine  inspiration  and  revelation; — subjects 
which  have  filled  volumes,  and  of  which  it  will,  of  course,  be 
practicable  to  give  you,  in  a  single  lecture,  (and  more  we  can- 
not devote  to  them,)  only  a  general  outline — a  summary 


56  LECTURES  ON  THE 

statement  of  the  principal  matters  which  they  embrace.  It 
is  hoped,  however,  that  enou^jh  will  be  said,  to  enable  every 
attentive  hearer  to  2;ive  a  reason  for  the  hope  that  is  in  him; 
a  reason  why  he  is  a  Christian,  and  why  he  cherishes  the  high 
expectations  which  Christianity  inspires. 

If  we  make  a  distinction  between  inspiration  and  revelation 
we  may  say,  that  by  inspiration  we  understand  those  di- 
vine communications  which  are  made  to  the  minds  o{  indivi- 
duals; by  REVELATION,  the  same  communications  made 
known  to  the  world,  by  those  who  receive  them  from  God. 
Revelation  is  a  generick^  inspiration  a  specijick  term.  The 
Deity,  usually,  first  reveals  his  mind  and  will  to  individuals, 
and  then  through  them  to  the  world.  No  one  has  a  right  to 
demand  or  expect  that  others  should  believe  he  has  a  direct 
communication  from  God,  without  verifying  his  pretensions 
by  an  undeniable  miracle.^ 

We  have  nothing  to  do  with  any  other  clairhs  to  revelation, 

.*  When  this  lecture  was  delivered,  the  author  read  to  his  audience  a  num- 
ber of  passages  from  "  Dick's  Essay  on  the  Inspiration  of  the  Scriptures,"  and 
recommended  the  careful  perusal  of  the  whole.  That  essay,  in  his  opinion,  is 
incomparably  the  best  publication  on  the  subject,  which  he  has  seen.  Dick's 
explanation,  in  regard  to  the  words  or  language  of  the  sacred  writers,  is  be- 
lieved to  be  the  only  one  that  can  be  defended  as  rational  and  satisfactory. 

The  substance  of  it  is  contained  in  the  following  extract: 

"  A  question  of  very  great  importance  demands  our  attention,  while  we  are 
endeavouring  to  settle,  with  precision,  the  notion  of  the  inspiration  of  the 
scriptures;  it  relates  to  the  words  in  which  the  sacred  writers  have  expressed 
their  ideas.  Some  think,  that  in  the  choice  of  words  they  were  left  to  their 
own  discretion,  and  that  the  language  is  human,  though  the  matter  be  divine  ; 
while  others  believe,  that  in  their  expressions,  as  well  as  in  their  sentiments, 
they  were  under  the  infallible  direction  of  the  Spirit.  It  is  the  last  opinion 
which  appears  to  be  most  conformable  to  truth,  and  it  may  be  supported  by 
the  following  reasoning. 

*'  Every  man,  who  hath  attended  to  the  operations  of  his  own  mind,  knows 
that  we  think  in  words  ;  or  that,  when  we  form  a  train  or  combination  of  ideas, 
we  clothe  them  with  words ;  and  that  the  ideas  which  are  not  thus  clothed, 
are  indistinct  and  confused.  Let  a  man  try  to  think  upon  any  subject,  moral 
or  religious,  without  the  aid  of  language,  and  he  will  either  experience  a  total 
cessation  of  thought,  or,  as  this  seems  impossible,  at  least  while  we  are  awake, 
he  will  feel  himself  constrained,  notwithstanding  his  utmost  endeavours,  to 
have  recourse  to  words,  as  the  instrument  of  his  mental  operations.  As  a 
great  part  of  the  scriptures  was  suggested  or  revealed  to  the  writers;  as  the 
thoughts  or  sentiments,  which  were  perfectly  new  to  them,  were  conveyed 
into  their  minds  by  the  Spirit,  it  is  plain  that  they  must  have  been  accompa- 
nied with  words  proper  to  express  them ;  and,  consequently,  that  the  words 
were  dictated  by  the  same  influences  on  the  mind  which  communicated  the 
ideas.  The  ideas  could  not  have  come  without  the  words,  because  without 
them  they  could  not  have  been  conceived." 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  57 

than  those  which  we  make  for  what  is  contained  in  our  Bible. 
In  no  other  revelation,  at  present  known  to  us,  do  we  be- 
lieve; and  if  this  be  not  defensible,  the  pretensions  of  any 
other  cannot  certainly  be  shown  to  be  better  founded. 

1.  Then,  we  can  have  no  hesitation  to  assert,  that  a  super- 
natural revelation  from  God  is  possible.  I  explicitly  men- 
tion a  supernatural  revelation,  because  God  has  unquestion- 
ably revealed  himself  to  us  in  his  works ; — and  our  reason 
also,  by  which  we  make  all  just  inferences  and  conclusions, 
as  well  as  many  valuable  discoveries,  is  his  gift.  But  by  the 
revelation  of  which  we  now  speak,  we  mean  some  important 
discoveries,  which  the  works  of  nature  and  all  the  exercise 
and  ingenuity  of  human  reason  employed  upon  them,  could 
never  make.  We  here  assert  that  such  a  revelation  \s  possi- 
ble. None  who  admit  the  being  and  attributes  of  God — and 
with  those  who  deny  them  we  do  not  now  contend — will  be 
likely  to  say,  that  it  is  not  possible  for  a  Being  of  infinite  pow- 
er and  wisdom  to  make  a  revelation,  such  as  we  have  speci- 
fied, to  his  creature  man;  and  in  such  way  too  as  perfectly  to 
satisfy  the  creature  that  the  revelation  is  from  God.  To 
deny  this  is,  at  once,  to  limit  the  power  and  the  wisdom  of 
the  Supreme  Being.  It  cannot,  therefore,  be  denied.  It  not 
only  involves  no  contradiction  or  absurdity,  but  it  is  no 
more,  in  fact,  than  to  assert  that  God,  who  has  actually  re- 
vealed himself  to  us  in  his  works,  can  farther  reveal  himself, 
by  additional  and  indubitable  communications. 

2.  Revelation  is  not  only  possible,  but  desirable;  and  if 
made,  must  be  highly  useful.  Lord  Herbert,  the  most 
learned  of  the  English  deists,  has  written  largely  and  elabo- 
rately, to  show  that  what  he  calls  the  light  of  nature  is  suffi- 
cient, without  revelation,  to  teach  us  the  knowledge  of  God 
and  of  our  duty.  He  has  been  ably  and  triumphantly  an- 
swered by  several  writers,  especially  by  Hally burton;  but 
what  is  remarkable,  he  has  virtually  answered  himself. 
Strange  as  it  may  seem,  it  is  indubitably  true,  that  he  declares 
that  he  asked,  and  as  he  believed,  received  a  revelation,  or  a 
miraculous  intimation,   to   decide   the  momentous  question, 

H 


58  LECTURES   ON  THE 

whether  he  should,  or  should  not,  publish  his  book  De  veri- 
tate;  a  book  in  which  he  sets  himself  to  prove  that  all  reve- 
lations, and  all  miracles,  are  unnecessary.  You  may  find  a 
fair  transcript  of  the  whole  passage,  in  Leland's  View  of  the 
Deistical  Writers.^ 

It  does  seem  to  me,  that  no  candid  deist,  will  refuse  to  ad- 
mit that  it  would  be  desirable,  and  so  far  as  we  can  see, 
useful,  that  the  Deity  should,  if  I  may  so  say,  speak  out,  and 
tell  us  plainly  the  truth  or  falsehood  of  a  great  many  impor- 
tant and  most  interesting  points,  about  which  human  reason 
has  been  at  a  loss  in  every  age  of  the  world.  For  as  one  has 
well  observed,  *^  whatever  the  light  of  nature  could  do  for 
man,  before  reason  was  depraved,  it  is  evident  that  it  has  done 


*  The  passage  referred  to  in  the  leclure  is  tlie  following: — Speaking  of  a 
writer  who  had  seen  a  manuscript  Ufe  of  Lord  Herbert  drawn  up  by  himself, 
Leland  says — "  After  having  observed,  that  Lord  Herberfs  tract,  De  verltate, 
was  his  favourite  work,  he  produceth  a  large  extract  relating  to  it  in  that 
Lord's  own  words,  signifying,  that  though  it  had  been  approved  by  some  very 
learned  men  to  whom  he  had  shown  it,  among  whom  he  mentions  Grotius,yet 
as  the  frame  of  his  whole  book  was  so  different  from  what  had  been  written 
heretofore  on  this  subject,  and  he  apprehended  he  should  meet  with  much  op- 
position, he  did  consider,  whether  it  were  not  better  for  him  a  while  to  sup- 
press it.     And  then  his  lordship  proceeds  thus: — 

"  '  Being  thus  doubtful,  in  my  chamber,  one  fair  day  in  the  summer,  my  case- 
ment being  open  towards  the  south,  the  sun  shining  clear,  and  no  wind  stir- 
ring, I  took  my  book,  De  veritate,  in  my  hands,  and,  kneeling  on  my  knees, 
devoutly  said  these  words — O  thou  eternal  God,  author  of  this  light  which 
now  shines  upon  me,  and  giver  of  all  inward  illuminations  ;  I  do  beseech  thee, 
of  thine  infinite  goodness,  to  pardo7i  a  greater  request  than  a  sinner  ought  to 
make:  I  am  not  satisfied  enough,  whether  I  shall  publish  this  book:  if  it  be  for 
thy  glory,  I  beseech  thee  give  me  some  sign  from  heaven;  if  not,  I  shall  sup- 
press it.  I  had  no  sooner  spoken  these  words,  but  a  loud,  though  yet  gentle 
noise,  came  forth  from  the  heavens,  (for  it  was  like  nothing  on  earth,)  which 
did  so  cheer  and  comfort  me,  that  I  took  my  petition  as  granted,  and  that  I 
had  the  sign  I  demanded  ;  whereupon  also  I  resolved  to  print  my  book.  This, 
how  strange  soever  it  may  seem,  I  protest  before  the  eternal  God,  is  true; 
neither  am  I  any  way  superstitiously  deceived  herein ;  since  I  did  not  only 
clearly  hear  the  noise,  but  in  the  serenest  sky  that  ever  I  saw,  being  without 
all  cloud,  did,  to  my  thinking,  see  the  place  from  whence  it  came.'  " 

On  this  surprising  but  unquestionable  fact  Leland  very  justly  remarks: — "  I 
cannot  help  thinking,  that  if  any  writer,  zealous  for  Christianity,  had  given 
such  an  account  of  himself,  as  praying  for  and  expecting  a  sign  from  heaven 
to  determine  his  doubt,  whether  he  should  publish  a  book  he  had  composed  in 
favour  of  the  Christian  cause  ;  and,  upon  hearing  a  noise,  which  he  took  to  be 
from  heaven,  had  looked  upon  it  as  a  mark  of  the  divine  approbation,  and  as  a 
call  to  publish  that  book ;  it  would  have  passed  for  a  high  fit  of  enthusiasm, 
and  would  no  doubt  have  subjected  the  author  to  much  ridicule  among  the 
gentlemen  that  oppose  revealed  religion.  What  judgment  they  will  pass  upon 
it  in  Lord  Herbert's  case  I  do  not  know." — Leland's  View  of  Deistical  WriterSf 
vol.  i,  pp,  42 — 45. 


SHORTER   CATECHISM.  59 

little  for  him  since.  Reason,  though  necessary  to  examine 
the  evidence  and  authority  of  divnne  revelation  (which  is  its 
proper  office)  yet  is  incapable  of  giving  us  all  needful  disco- 
veries of  God,  the  way  of  salvation,  or  the  manner  in  which 
we  may  be  brought  into  a  state  of  communion  with  God."* 
Paley — certainly  among  the  most  candid  and  conceding  of 
disputants — cuts  the  question  before  us  short,  in  this  manner 
— "  I  deem  it  (says  he)  unnecessary  to  prove  that  mankind 
stood  in  need  of  a  revelation  ;  because  I  have  met  with  no  se- 
rious person,  who  thinks  that  even  under  the  Christian  reve- 
lation, we  have  too  much  light,  or  any  assurance  which  is  su- 
perfluous." 

3.  If  revelation  be  clearly  possible,  desirable,  and  if  made, 
calculated  to  be  highly  useful,  we  think  that  we  may  fairly 
add,  that  it  is  also  probable.  It  is  fully  admitted  that  the 
yac/,  whether  this  revelation  has  actually  been  made,  must  be 
determined  by  the  proper  and  competent  evidence.  But  it  is 
of  some  importance,  and  is  always  so  considered  in  alleging 
evidence,  that  we  do  not  offer  it  to  establish  a  fact  imjwobable 
in  itself.  We  think  that  we  have  no  lack  of  evidence  in  the 
present  case;  but  we  wish  it  to  be  considered,  whether^ro^a- 
hility  is  not  clearly  on  our  side  at  the  outset.  And  we  do 
think,  that  when  we  consider  how  needful  and  useful  a  reve- 
lation must  be,  and  how  the  goodness  of  the  Creator  has  pro- 
vided for  the  wants  and  the  happiness  of  all  his  creatures,  the 
probability  strongly  is,  that  he  has  provided  for  this  great 
want  of  his  creature  man — the  creature  who  is  certainly  the 
head  of  this  lower  creation.  We  think  that  it  is  not  analo- 
gous to  all  that  we  see  of  the  divine  goodness,  in  supplying 
the  wants  and  natural  desires  of  his  other  sensitive  creatures, 
even  of  the  lowest  order,  that  he  should  leave  the  noblest  of 
them  with  wants  and  desires  which  are  not  supplied  or  pro- 
vided for,  if  the  revelation  in  question  be  not  given.  Here, 
too,  it  ought,  in  all  fairness,  to  be  mentioned,  that  a  very 
large  proportion  of  that  light  and  knowledge  in  regard  to  the 

*  Buck's  Theological  Dictionary. 


60  LECTURES  ON  THE 

true  God  and  his  attributes,  which  modern  deists  possess, 
they  have  actually  derived  from  that  very  revelation  which 
they  attempt  to  prove  to  be  unnecessary.  The  truth  of  this 
matter  may  be  learned — and  can  only  be  learned — from  the 
state  of  things  among  the  heathen,  even  the  best  informed 
of  them.  They,  too,  it  is  manifest,  derived  some  aid  from 
traditionary  revelation.  But  even  with  this  aid,  their  ideas 
of  the  Deity,  of  his  attributes,  and  of  many  important  points 
of  moral  duty,  were  lamentably  defective  and  erroneous. 
Among  the  9nass  of  mankind,  the  ignorance  which  prevailed 
was  awful  and  shocking  in  the  extreme.  It  was  emphatically 
true,  according  to  the  strong  language  of  scripture,  that 
**  Darkness  covered  the  earth,  and  gross  darkness  the  people." 
It  has,  we  are  aware,  been  made  an  objection  against  the 
Bible,  that  while  it  claims,  to  be  a  revelation  of  high  impor- 
tance, it  is  known  only  to  a  small  part,  comparatively,  of 
those  whom  it  ought  to  benefit.  But  if  the  true  state  of  this 
fact  be  carefully  attended  to,  it  will  be  found  exactly  analo- 
gous to  what  takes  place  in  the  divine  dispensations,  in  almost 
every  other  respect.  Infortnation  of  every  kind,  is  but  very 
partially  communicated  to  the  mass  of  mankind ; — they  re- 
main in  gross  and  grovelling  ignorance.  The  precious  bless- 
ing of  civil  liberty,  likewise,  is  not  enjoyed  by  a  hundredth 
part  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  globe.  Yet  knowledge  and  civil 
liberty  are  the  gifts  of  God,  intended  for  the  benefit  of  man- 
kind, and  in  themselves  unspeakably  valuable.  They  make 
the  world  much  better  than  it  would  be  without  them ;  and  in 
due  time,  we  hope  and  expect  that  the  benefit  of  them  will 
reach  the  whole  human  family.  The  case  is  the  same — only 
a  great  deal  stronger — with  respect  to  divine  revelation.  It 
has  introduced  into  the  world,  and  continues  in  it,  all  the  cor- 
rect knowledge  of  God  and  of  his  attributes,  and  all  adequate 
views  of  our  duty  to  Him  and  to  each  other,  which  are  pos- 
sessed by  our  race.  This  knowledge  has  been,  and  now  is,  of 
incalculable  use  and  benefit  to  the  world.  To  those  who 
possess  it  fully,  its  value  is  inestimable:  and  we  know  that  it 
is  promised  in  this  revelation  itself — and  certainly  the  signs  of 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  61 

the  times  in  which  we  live  strongly  indicate  that  the  promise 
is  now  in  a  train  of  actual  and  rapid  fulfilment — that  this 
knowledge  shall  "cover  the  earth  as  the  waters  do  the  seas;" 
— that  the  sacred  scriptures  shall  be  read  in  every  language 
under  heaven,  and  their  benign  effects  be  experienced  by  the 
whole  race  of  man. 

Having  thus,  very  briefly,  shown  that  revelation  is  possible, 
desirable,  useful,  and  probable,  let  us  now  consider  the  direct 
evidence  that  it  has  been  given,  and  is  contained  in  the  scrip- 
tures of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments. 

The  proof  or  evidence  that  the  scriptures  contain  a  divine 
revelation,  has  usually  been  divided  into  two  kinds — external 
and  internal.  By  external  evidence  is  meant  that  which  is 
derived  from  what  has  taken  place  in  the  world,  to  prove  that 
the  Bible  contains  the  revealed  will  of  God.  By  internal 
evidence  is  meant,  that  which  is  furnished  simply  by  a  care- 
ful perusal  of  the  scriptures  themselves.  There  is  certainly 
a  just  foundation  for  this  division;  and  yet  a  rigorous  regard 
to  it,  in  so  short  a  view  of  the  subject  as  I  am  to  give,  might 
rather  embarrass  than  assist  my  design.  I  shall,  therefore, 
regard  it  only  so  far  as  may  be  found  convenient. 

Let  us  begin  with  the  internal  evidence,  or  that  which  ap- 
pears to  an  attentive  and  impartial  reader,  on  the  very  face  of 
the  scriptures  themselves.  Of  this  evidence  a  better  summary 
statement  cannot,  I  think,  be  made,  than  that  which  we  have 
in  our  Confession  of  Faith,  in  these  words — "  The  heavenli- 
ness  of  the  matter,  the  efficacy  of  the  doctrine,  the  majesty  of 
the  style,  the  consent  of  all  the  parts,  the  scope  of  the  whole, 
(which  is  to  give  all  glory  to  God,)  the  full  discovery  which 
it  makes  of  the  only  way  of  man's  salvation,  the  many  other 
incomparable  excellencies,  and  the  entire  perfection  thereof, 
are  arguments  whereby  it,  (the  scripture)  doth  abundantly 
evidence  itself  to  be  the  word  of  God." 

The  first  item  of  evidence  mentioned  in  this  statement  is, 
"the  heavenliness  of  the  matter"  which  the  sacred  volume 
contains.  This  may  well  claim  our  attention.  It  is  incapa- 
ble of  denial,  that  no  other  book  in  the  world,  nor  all  other 


62  LECTURES  ON  THE 

books  taken  together,  give  us  such  just  and  sublime  ideas  as 
are  given  in  the  Bible  of  God,  and  of  his  attributes ;  of  the 
kind  of  worship  and  obedience  which  he  requires  ;  of  the  na- 
ture of  holy  communion  with  Him;  and  of  his  moral  laws,  or 
our  duties  to  each  other.  The  truth  is,  that  in  comparison 
with  what  the  scriptures  teach  on  these  subjects,  all  the 
writings  of  the  heathen  philosophers,  legislators  and  sages,  are 
darkness  itself. 

Where  and  by  whom  then  was  this  wonderful  book — which 
in  the  last  lecture  I  properly  called  the  sun  of  the  moral  sys- 
tem— where,  and  by  whom,  was  it  written?  It  was  written 
in  a  country  scarcely  thought  worth  notice  by  the  great  an- 
cient heathen  nations;  written  by  men  whom  those  nations 
despised  as  barbarians.  A  considerable  part  of  it  was  written 
by  shepherds,  and  peasants,  and  fishermen.  Could  such  a 
book  be  produced  by  such  men,  and  in  such  circumstances, 
unless  God  had  revealed  his  mind  and  will  to  them,  and 
taught  them  how  and  what  to  write?  To  believe  that  this 
book,  so  superior  to  all  others,  could  be  produced  by  the  men 
who  wrote  it,  without  divine  aid,  is,  to  my  apprehension,  to 
believe  something  far  more  wonderful  and  incredible,  than  all 
that  the  Bible  contains.  It  is  to  believe  that  an  effect  exists 
without  any  adequate  cause. 

2.  The  efficacy  of  the  doctrine  of  this  book  proves  it  divine. 
It  certainly  has  had  infinitely  mjore  influence,  in  reforming 
and  enlightening  mankind — in  making  them  better  in  all  re- 
spects— than  all  the  writings  of  the  heathen  sages,  that  were 
ever  given  to  the  world.  How  is  this  to  be  accounted  for,  if 
this  book  be  not  of  divine  origin,  and  if  the  knowledge  it  im- 
parts be  not  accompanied  by  a  divine  influence?  Hundreds 
and  thousands  of  the  best,  and  many  of  them  among  the 
wisest  men,  that  ever  lived,  have  declared  that  the  doctrines 
and  truths  of  the  Bible  were  the  means  of  changing  their 
tempers,  hearts,  and  lives.  It  will  not  do  to  call  this  enthu- 
siasm, or  delusion.  The  parties  thus  wrought  upon  and 
changed,  have  often  been  far  more  remarkable  for  sobriety, 
discretion,  wisdom,  learning,  benevolence,   and   usefulness, 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  63 

Uian  any  of  those  who  make  the  charge.  No  rational  account 
can  be  given  of  this  fact,  but  that  holy  scripture  has  been 
made  "the  power  and  the  wisdom  of  God,"  to  produce  such 
an  effect. 

3.  The  majesty  of  the  style  of  scripture,  is  another  evi- 
dence of  its  divine  origin.  Recollect  what  has  been  said  of 
the  authors  of  these  writings. — Now,  we  admit  that  it  is  in 
the  early  periods  of  society  that  sublime  compositions  are 
usually  produced.  But  what  has  given  such  a  superiority,  in 
this  respect,  to  the  Jewish  and  Christian  writings?  In  all  that 
relates  to  the  Deity,  his  attributes,  works  and  worship,  com- 
pare the  compositions  of  the  Bible  with  those  of  the  most  ele- 
vated strains  of  tlie  lieathen  poets,  or  other  writers,  and  you 
instantly  perceive  a  difference  that  strikes  you  with  astonish- 
ment. Had  time  permitted,  it  was  my  intention  to  have 
given  you,  from  Burgh's  Dignity  of  Human  Nature,  a  com- 
parison which  he  makes,  between  what  he  says  has  been  con- 
sidered the  most  sublime  description  of  Homer,  and  one  of 
the  Psalms  of  David,  both  in  a  literal  version.  His  remark 
is,  that  the  extract  from  Homer,  in  this  comparison,  appears 
like  "a  capucinade,  a  mere  Grub-street  performance."*  There 
certainly  never  have  been  any  other  writers  that  did  even  ap- 
proach the  majesty  and  sublimity  of  the  writers  of  scripture, 
in  what  relates  to  the  Deity.  And  this  cannot  be  rationally 
accounted  for,  but  on  the  supposition  that  these  writers  had 
higher  and  juster  notions  of  the  Deity  than  others,  and  were 
raised  above  themselves,  by  divine  inspiration. 

4.  The  consent  of  all  the  parts  of  scripture,  is  another  evi- 
dence of  their  divinity.  This  harmony  of  the  sacred  writers, 
when  fairly  viewed,  is  indeed  wonderful.  The  different 
writers  were  not  only  of  different  ranks  in  life,  and  of  differ- 
ent education,  but  they  wrote  at  periods  of  time  far  distant 
from  each  other,  and  on  subjects  of  very  various  kinds;  and 
often  without  knowing  more  than  a  part,  at  most,  of  what  had 
been  written  by  others.     From  the  time  that  Moses  wrote 

^  See  the  passage  referred  to,  at  the  close  of  this  lecture. 


64  LECTURES  ON  THE 

the  Pentateuch,  to  the  time  that  John  penned  the  Apocalypse, 
was  a  period  of  about  fifteen  hundred  j^ears.  Now,  that  a 
series  of  writers,  of  such  different  characters,  and  discussing 
such  different  topicks,  should  be  adding  something  to  the  sa- 
cred volume  through  all  this  period,  and  often  with  only  a 
very  partial  knowledge  of  what  was  there  before,  and  yet  that 
there  should  be  no  contrariety,  no  inconsistency,  but  the 
most  entire  consent  and  harmony  of  the  whole,  this  we  affirm 
has  no  parallel, — nothing  resembling  it,  among  merely  human 
productions:  and  we  affirm  that  it  can  be  satisfactorily  ac- 
counted for  in  no  other  way,  than  by  saying  that  these  wri- 
ters were  all  guided  by  one  and  the  same  Spirit  of  infallible 
truth.  Many  attempts,  we  know,  have  been  made  to  find 
some  inconsistency  of  one  portion  of  scripture  with  another; 
but  they  have  uniformly  led  to  investigations  which  have 
more  clearly  demonstrated  the  entire  agreement  of  the  whole. 

5.  "  The  scope  of  the  whole  scripture,  which  is  to  give  all 
glory  to  God,"  is  another  internal  evidence  of  its  divinity. 
The  whole  sacred  volume,  taken  together,  is  calculated  to 
exhibit  the  Deity  as  glorious  in  all  his  attributes ; — to  exhibit 
Him  as  infinitely  worthy  of  the  highest  admiration,  esteem 
and  love,  of  all  intelligent  and  moral  beings — to  show  that 
they  were  created,  as  I  have  heretofore  shown,  to  behold  and 
promote  his  glory,  and  to  find  their  supreme  happiness,  both 
here  and  to  all  eternity,  in  this  high  and  delightful  service. 
This  we  might  naturally  expect  in  a  revelation  from  God,  and 
we  find  it  in  this  revelation; — find  it  as  it  is  not  found  in  any 
other  compositions  that  ever  were  written.  This  book,  there- 
fore, we  believe  came  from  God  himself. 

6.  The  full  discovery  which  the  Bible  makes  of  "  the  only 
way  of  man's  salvation,"  affords  a  strong  internal  evidence  of 
its  divine  origin.  The  insuperable  difficulty,  among  the  best 
of  the  heathen  philosophers  and  moralists,  was,  to  collect  any 
entirely  satisfactory  evidence  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul, 
and  that  God  would  both  forgive  and  reward  the  penitent 
sinner.  How,  indeed,  can  these  things  be  certainly  known, 
unless  they  are  revealed.    That  reason  and  observation  might, 


SHORTER   CATECHISM.  65 

and  did  iffiDrd  some  probability,  and  excite  some  hope  in  re- 
gard to  them,  we  admit.  But  on  such  infinitely  interesting 
topicks,  the  mind  is  deeply  anxious  for  certainty^  ior  full  as- 
surance: and  this  never  could  be  obtained,  but  by  revelation. 
Here,  blessed  be  God,  we  have  it.  "  Life  and  immortality 
are  brought  to  light  in  the  gospel :"  and  here — and  only  here 
— the  whole  plan  of  redeeming  mercy,  is  clearly  and  glorious- 
ly exhibited. 

By  revelation,  and  by  revelation  alone,  we  learn,  that  in 
the  perfect  unity  of  the  divine  essence,  there  are  three  dis- 
tinctions, usually  caWqA  persons^  and  that  each  of  these  divine 
persons  bears  a  part  in  the  great  work  of  man's  redemption 
and  salvation.  Here,  and  here  only,  we  learn  of  a  way  of 
pardon,  in  consistency  with  the  justice  of  God,  through  the 
atonement  and  righteousness  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Here 
we  learn,  that  sanctification  is  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit; 
and  that  thus  the  human  soul — redeemed  by  the  blood  of  the 
Son  of  God,  and  meetened  for  glory  by  his  own  blessed  Spirit 
— shall  be  admitted  to  perfect  and  endless  felicity  in  heaven. 
This  plan  of  salvation  never  did  enter,  and  never  could  have 
entered,  the  mind  of  any  human  being,  if  it  had  not  been  re- 
vealed. But  when  revealed,  the  glory  and  excellence  of  it 
are  seen  to  be  inexpressible.  It  has  accordingly  been  the  re- 
liance of  the  best  of  men,  even  in  the  trying  hour  of  death — 
Of  the  reality  of  it,  as  the  truth  of  God,  they  have  doubted  no 
more  than  of  their  own  existence. 

I  have  now  finished  what  I  propose  to  offer  on  the  internal 
evidence  which  the  scriptures  contain,  that  they  are  a  revela- 
tion from  God.  I  have,  by  no  means,  touched  on  all  the  points 
of  evidence  of  this  kind;  and  I  have  unavoidably  been  very 
brief  on  each  point  that  I  have  noticed.  Yet  I  have  said  more 
than  I  should,  but  for  the  consideration  that  it  is  of  the  inter- 
nal evidence  of  the  divinity  of  the  scriptures,  tliat  persons  of  all 
descriptions  can  best  and  most  satisfactorily  judge  for  them- 
selves. It  is  indeed  the  internal  evidence  of  the  truth  of  revela- 
tion which,  at  last,  most  completely  satisfies  evet^y  mind,  and 

I 


66  LECTURES  ON  THE 

dispels  every  doubt.  I  2;ive  it  as  my  decisive  opinion,  that 
any  man  who  will  carefully,  dilia;ently,  candidly  and  prayer- 
fully study  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  compare  one  part  with 
another,  will  at  length,  and  before  long;,  have  no  doubt  left, 
that  there  he  finds  the  revealed  will  of  God. 

Let  us  now,  very  briefly,  consider  the  external  evidence 
that  the  scriptures  contain  a  divine  revelation.  Among  the 
numerous  sources  of  this  kind  of  evidence,  I  have  time  to  men- 
tion only  two  of  the  chief— miracles  and  prophecy  : — If,  in- 
deed, there  be  any  just  ground  for  distinguishing  between  pro- 
phecy and  miracles. 

A  miracle  has  been  defined  "  an  effect  contrary  to  the  esta- 
blished constitution  and  course  of  things,  or  a  sensible  devia- 
tion from  the  known  laws  of  nature."  That  a  miracle  should 
ever  be  wrought  for  a  trivial  purpose,  is  certainly  contrary  to 
all  our  ideas  of  fitness — to  all  our  perceptions  of  the  wisdom, 
regularity,  order  and  stability,  which  we  observe  in  the  works 
of  God.  But  that  for  a  great  and  important  purpose,  there 
should  be  some  deviation  from  the  established  laws  and  order 
which  we  observe  in  the  works  of  creation  and  providence,  is 
in  no  respect  unworthy  of  the  power,  the  wisdom,  or  the  good- 
ness of  the  great  Author  of  nature.  "Man  (says  Dr.  Gleig) 
is  unquestionably  the  principal  creature  in  this  world,  and  ap- 
parently the  only  one  in  it,  who  is  capable  of  being  made  ac- 
quainted with  the  relation  in  which  he  stands  to  his  Creator. 
We  cannot,  therefore,  doubt,  but  that  such  of  the  laws  of  na- 
ture as  extend  not  their  operation  beyond  the  limits  of  this 
earth,  were  established  chiefly,  if  not  solel}',  for  the  good  of 
mankind;  and  if,  in  any  particular  circumstances,  that  good 
can  be  more  effectually  promoted  by  an  occasional  deviation 
from  those  laws,  such  a  deviation  may  be  reasonably  expect- 
ed." Now,  when  we  consider,  as  already  shown,  how  desir- 
able, useful,  and  even  necessary,  a  revelation  is,  to  teach  man 
the  true  knowledge  of  God  and  the  method  in  which  he  may 
be  restored  to  the  favour  and  eternal  fruition  of  his  Creator, 
we  cannot  deem  it  unworthy  of  infinite  wisdom  and  good- 
ness^  and  therefore  not  unreasonable,  that  we  should  expect 


SHORTER    CATECHISM.  67 

some  occasional  deviation  from  the  established  laws  of  nature, 
for  this  g;reat  and  important  purpose.  And  you  will  observe, 
that  in  whatever  decree  it  is  reasonable  to  expect  that  a  reve- 
lation should  be  made  to  mankind,  in  that  same  desjree  it  is 
reasonable  to  expect  that  miracles  should  be  wrought — For 
without  a  rpiracle,  the  supernatural  communication  could  not 
be  verified  to  the  world  at  large. 

When  any  one  affirms  that  he  has  a  supernatural  communi* 
cation  to  make,  we  justly  demand  of  him  the  evidence  of  this. 
And  let  it  be  remembered,  that  this  is  the  doctrine  of  scrip- 
ture, and  the  test  to  which,  as  I  have  heretofore  intimated, 
all  who  profess  to  have  received  revelations  ought,  in  all  cases, 
to  be  brought.  If  what  they  profess  to  teach  were  a  mere 
matter  of  reason,  we  might  judge  of  it  by  reason ;  or  if  a  reli- 
ance were  placed  on  argument,  we  would  listen  to  the  argu- 
ment. But  here  is  a  communication  to  be  made,  of  which 
reason  is  not,  abstractly,  the  competent  judge;  and  which  de° 
mands  regard,  not  from  argument,  but  from  divine  authority. 
Show  us,  then,  the  authority  by. which  your  demand  is 
sanctioned.  This  can  be  done,  only  by  working  an  undeni- 
able miracle.  If  this  be  done,  but  not  otherwise,  we  submit 
to  the  demand.  We  submit,^  because  we  cannot  believe  that 
He  alone  who  can  control  and  change  the  laws  of  nature, 
would  do  it  to  confirm  a  faKehood  ;  and  by  doing  so,  to  impose 
in  the  most  grievous  manner,  on  his  rational  creatures.  Mi- 
racles, therefore,  are  essential  to  a  revelation  for  the  good  of 
mankind  at  large ;  and  when  really  wrought,  they  give  it  a 
divine  sanction. 

That  almost  every  kind  of  religion  in  the  world  has  pro» 
fessed  to  have  miracles  connected  with  its  pretensions,  we  ad- 
mit. But  mark  a  difierence,  which  at  once  annihilates  this 
objection,  as  it  relates  to  the  Jewish  and  Christian  systems. 
Yes,  although  this  objection  has  been  so  much  dwelt  on,  yet 
it  is  an  undeniable  fact,  that  the  Jewish  and  Christian  systems 
are  the  only  ones  since  the  foundation  of  the  world,  that  have 
professed  to  take  their  origin  from  mirachs,  wrought  in  the 
face  of  the  world,  and  of  which  both  friends  and  enemies 


as  LECTURES  ON  THE 

might  judge.  This  is  what  those  s}^stems  professed  to  do^ 
and  they  succeeded  in  it;  and  this  has  never  been  attempted, 
with  success,  by  any  other  reh'gion  of  which  the  world  has 
yet  heard.  No  other  religion,  I  repeat,  has  ever  begun  its 
career,  and  professed  to  rest  all  its  pretensions  on  open  unde- 
7iiahle  miracles,  wrought  in  the  presence  of  foes  as  well  as 
friends,  and  succeeded  in  the  attempt.  Mahomet  did  not 
found  his  pretensions  on  miracles.  He  disclaimed  this.  He 
professed  indeed  to  have  divine  communication;  but  they 
were  all  in  secret.  He  avowed  that  his  religion  was  to  be 
propagated  by  the  sword;  and  accordingly  by  the  sword  it 
was  propagated. 

Mr.  Hume  is  the  infidel  writer  of  most  note  who  has  op- 
posed the  credibility  of  miracles.  But  he  has  been  answered 
by  Dr.  Campbell,  in  a  manner  which  seems  to  me  to  preclude 
all  reply.  The  answer  is  the  most  satisfactory  piece  of  con- 
troversy that  I  have  ever  read.  Mr.  Hume's  bold  position 
is,  that  no  testimony  whatever^  can  warrant  a  belief  in  mira- 
cles, because  miracles  are  a  violation  of  the  laws  of  nature; 
and  all  our  experience,  he  says,  tells  us  that  the  laws  of  nature 
are  never  violated,  while  the  same  experience  tells  us  that  hu- 
man testimony  is  often  false — therefore,  it  is  more  reasonable 
to  believe  that  the  testimony  is  false,  than  that  miracles  are 
true.  This  is  certainly  very  specious,  and  yet  it  is  perfectly 
deceptive.  What  does  he  mean  by  experience?  Would  he 
confine  it  to  what  he  and  those  with  whom  he  had  conversed, 
had  seen  or  observed  for  themselves?  No — he  was  a  histo- 
rian himself,  and  would  believe  well  authenticated  history. 
History  and  written  records,  then,  make  a  part  of  experience. 
And  does  all  history  say  that  miracles  must  be  false?  So  far 
from  it,  that  there  is  no  better  authenticated  history  on  earth, 
than  that  which  attests  that  miracles  are  true.  The  whole 
then,  is  a  perfect  sophism,  built  on  the  equivocal  use  of  the 
word  experience. 

If  miracles  were  frequently  wrought,  they  would  lose  their 
effect  and  use ;  because  they  would  then  come  to  be  consi- 
dered in  the  light  of  the  ordinary  course  of  things.     Had  the 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  69 

sun  never  risen  and  set  but  once,  it  would  probably  have  been 
regarded  as  the  greatest  miracle  that  was  ever  recorded.  We 
cannot,  therefore,  look  for  miracles  in  every  age.  They 
were  given  to  sanction  God's  revealed  will,  and  that  being 
done,  they  have  had  their  use  and  have  ceased. 

Testimony  can  give  us  as  satisfactory,  though  not  as  im- 
pressive evidence  of  miracles,  as  if  we  had  witnessed  them 
ourselves.  Miracles  are  just  as  easy  to  Almighty  power,  as 
the  carrying  on  of  the  most  ordinary  operations  of  nature.  If 
miracles,  then,  are  wrought,  in  which  those  who  witness 
them  cannot  be  deceived,  testimony  may  verify  this  fact  to 
others,  as  fully  as  any  other  fact.  All  we  want  is  honest 
competent  witnesses.  How  do  we  know  then  that  we  have 
such  witnesses,  in  regard  to  the  miracles — let  us  say — of  the 
New  Testament?  This  is  a  proper  and  rational  inquiry  :  and 
I  answer  it  by  taking  a  single  miracle — which  being  authen- 
ticated, all  the  rest  will  be  found  to  be  connected  with  it.  I 
take  the  resurrection  of  Christ  from  the  dead.  None  deny 
that  he  was  put  to  death  on  the  cross.  The  Roman  histo- 
rians, the  Jews,  Christians,  all  attest  and  agree  in  this.  His 
apostles  affirm  that  he  rose  from  the  dead  on  the  third  day; 
that  he  ate,  and  drank,  and  repeatedly  conversed  with  them, 
during  forty  days  after  his  resurrection  :  that  at  one  time  he 
appeared  to  five  hundred  ;  and  that  at  last,  in  the  presence  of 
his  apostles,  and  in  their  open  broad  day  view,  he  ascended 
into  heaven.  Here  is  a  fact,  in  regard  to  which  the  apostles 
could  not  be  deceived.  They  knew  the  Saviour  perfectly  ; 
they  had  been  his  intimate  companions  for  three  years;  they 
were  not  easily  convinced  that  he  was  risen,  although  he  had 
told  them  repeatedly  that  he  would  rise.  One  of  them  was 
very  incredulous;  but  they  were,  at  last,  all  convinced:  so 
perfectly  convinced,  that  they  spent  their  lives  in  publishing 
this  event,  and  the  whole  gospel  system  connected  with  it,  to 
the  world.  They  did  this,  and  could  not  be  deterred  or 
prevented  from  doing  it;  although  they  were  hated,  and 
despised,  and  persecuted,  by  almost  the  whole  Jewish  na- 
tion, for  persisting  in  their  testimony.     They  endured  everj'^ 


70  LECTUlfES  ON  THE 

indignity,  every  hardship,  every  loss  and  privation,  yet  they 
still  persisted  ;  and  at  last  died  martyrs  to  their  testimony, 
sealing  it  with  their  blood.  No  falsehood  ever  was,  or  ever 
can  be,  thus  attested.  And  we  have  four  separate  histories 
of  this  transaction,  as  well  as  of  the  whole  life  and  other  mira- 
cles of  Christ,  all  agreeing  in  the  same  account :  and  we  have 
not  only  as  much,  but  far  more  evidence  that  those  histories 
were  written  by  the  men  whose  names  they  bear,  and  very 
shortly  after  the  transactions  recorded,  than  we  have  that 
Homer  wrote  the  Iliad,  Virgil  the  Eneid,  or  Livy  and  Taci- 
tus the  histories  which  bear  their  names.  On  this  solid 
ground  it  is  that  we  believe  the  miracles  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment. It  cannot  be  deceptive :  no  falsehood,  I  repeat,  ever 
was,  or  ever  can  be,  attested  in  this  manner.  Miracles,  there- 
fore, have  been  wrought,  to  confirm  the  doctrines  and  facts  of 
the  New  Testament,  as  well  as  the  Old.  The  God  of  truth 
has  stamped  these  doctrines  and  facts  with  his  own  signet, 
and  we  rest  on  them  without  a  reasonable  doubt  of  their 
verity. 

Prophecy  we  are  next  to  consider.  This,  indeed,  is  a  kind 
of  miracle.  For  who,  without  the  dictation  of  Him  who  sees 
the  end  from  the  beginning,  can  foretel,  with  certainty  and 
particularity,  events  that  shall  take  place  hundreds  of  years 
after  the  time  of  the  prediction;  and  this  too  when,  at  the 
time  of  prediction,  nothing  is  more  unlikely  to  happen  than 
many  of  these  events.  But  the  Bible  abounds  with  prophe- 
cies of  this  very  character;  prophecies,  some  of  which  have 
been  fulfilled;  some  that  are  now  fulfilling;  and  some  which 
are  yet  to  be  accomplished. 

When  Egypt,  and  Assyria,  and  ancient  Tyre,  were  in  all 
their  power  and  splendour,  it  was  prophesied  that  they  should 
be  utterly  blotted  out— the  former  as  nations,  and  the  latter 
as  a  mart  for  commerce.  These  prophecies  have  been  lite- 
rally fulfilled.  A  still  older  prophecy — that  which  predicted 
that  it  should  be  the  character  of  the  descendants  of  Ishmael, 
that  their  "  hand  should  be  against  every  man,  and  every 
man^s  hand  against  them,"  and  yet  that  they  should  never  be 


SHORTER    CATECHISM.  71 

subdued — has  been  fulfillinc;  for  more  than  three  thousand 
years,  and  is  yet  fulfilling.  The  Arabs  boast,  at  this  hour,  of 
their  descent  from  Abraham:  they  have  always  been,  as  they 
now  are,  depredators  on  all  surrounding  people;  and  yet, 
though  frequently  worsted  and  partially  conquered,  they  have 
never  been  subdued. 

Seven  hundred  years  before  the  birth  of  Christ,  Isaiah  pre- 
dicted his  coming,  and  described  his  character.  Read  this 
prediction  and  description,  in  the  53d  chapter  of  Isaiah,  and 
you  really  seem  to  be  reading  a  history  of  Christ,  rather  than 
a  prophecy  concerning  him.  Daniel,  also,  prophesied  of  the 
Messiah,  by  his  very  name;  and  marked  the  period  of  his  ad- 
vent so  exactly,  that  it  seems  impossible  to  deny  that  jt  was 
Christ  Jesus,  to  whom  he  referred.  That  these  prophecies 
were  not  written  after  the  events  to  which  we  refer  their  ful- 
filment, there  is  the  best  of  all  evidence,  in  the  fact,  that  the 
Jews,  who  deny  their  fulfilment,  have  been  the  depositaries  of 
the  books  which  contain  the  predictions. 

Our  Lord,  in  the  most  remarkable  and  explicit  manner,  pre- 
dicted the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  and  warned  his  disciples 
to  flee  from  it;  which  all  accounts  testify  that  they  did.  Je- 
rusalem was  destroyed  in  the  seventieth  j^ear  of  the  Christian 
era;  and  before  that  time  there  is  the  best  evidence  that  the 
whole  evangelical  history  was  published,  except  the  gospel  of 
John,  in  which  this  prediction  is  not  found — probably  because 
he  had  seen  it  fulfilled.  But  in  this  same  prediction  of  our 
Lord,  there  is  an  intimation  in  regard  to  the  Jews,  which  has 
been  fulfilling  from  the  destruction  of  their  city  and  temple  to 
the  present  time;  and  of  which  we  can  judge,  in  part,  from 
our  own  observation.  ^*  Jerusalem  (said  the  Saviour)  shall 
be  trodden  down  of  the  Gentiles,  until  the  time  of  the  Gen- 
tiles be  fulfilled."  What  a  remarkable  accomplishment  has 
there  been,  of  this  declaration?  Julian,  the  apostate  Roman 
emperor,  attempted  to  rebuild  the  city  and  temple  of  Jeru- 
salem, that  he  might  falsify  this  prediction.  But  although  he 
entrusted  the  enterprise  to  one  of  his  ablest  generals,  heaven 
blasted  the  attempt — Jerusalem  is  yet  trodden  down  of  the 


iZ  LECTUKKS  ON  THE 

Gentiles,  and  the  Jews  are  scattered  over  all  the  earth.  Ot* 
this  we  are  the  living  witnesses;  after  the  lapse  of  nearly 
eighteen  centuries,  since  the  publication  of  the  prophecy. 

Farther — It  is  conclusively  implied  in  our  Lord's  predic- 
tion, that  when  "the  time  of  the  Gentiles  shall  be  fulfilled,'' 
the  Jewish  state  shall  be  restored  :  and  the  Apostle  Paul,  in 
the  elev^enth  chapter  of  his  epistle  to  the  Romans,  shows  at 
length  that  it  is  the  purpose  of  God,  when  "  the  fulness  of  the 
Gentiles  shall  have  come  in,"  that  the  Jews  shall  "  be  grafted 
into  their  own  olive  tree" — shall  be  restored  to  that  church  of 
the  living  God  which  was  originally  constituted  among  their 
progenitors,  and  from  which,  by  their  unbelief,  they  will  so 
long  have  suflfered  an  exclusion.    This  prophecy,  althousrh  not 
as  yet  fulfilled,  has  been,  from  the  time  when  it  was  uttered, 
and  is  at  the  present  hour,  in  such  a  train  of  fulfilment,  as  to 
leave  no  reasonable  doubt  of  its  eventual  and  perfect  accom- 
plishment.    The   Jews  have   been   preserved  as    a   separate 
people,  amidst  all  their  dispersions  and  all  their  grievous  per- 
secutions.    While  other  conquered,  captured,  and  dispersed 
nations  and  tribes  have,  without  a  single  exception,  melted 
away,  and  at  last  been  amalgamated  with  the  mass  of  the  popu- 
lation in  which  they  have  been  mingled,  the  Jews  are  as  much 
a  distinct  people  now,  as  they  were  at  the  close  of  the  Baby- 
lonish captivity.     Is  not  this  a  presumption  of  the  strongest 
kind,  that  they  have  been  preserved  by  the  special  providence 
of  God,  for  that  restoration  and  that  conversion  to  the  Chris- 
tian faith,  which  the  scriptures  assure  us  are  yet  to  take  place? 
In  addition  to  all,  consider  how  the  feelings  of  at  least  some 
Christian  nations,  in  regard  to  the  Jews,  have  within  a  few  years 
past  begun  to  be  changed,  from  that  extreme  hatred  and  ab- 
horrence which  had  so  long  existed,  to  pity  and  sympathy, 
and  a  degree  of  kindness;  consider  the  lively  interest  which 
many   Christians,    both   in   Europe  and   America,   are  now 
taking  in  the  amelioration  of  the  condition  of  this  long  ne- 
glected and  sufiering  people,  and  the  efforts  which  are  made 
and  the  prayers  which  are  offered,  for  their  conversion  to  the 
faith  of  Christ ;  consider  that  a  number  of  remarkable  conver- 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  73 

sions  have  actually  taken  place,  and  that  a  spirit  of  anxious 
inquiry,  to  a  greater  extent  and  degree  than  I  helieve  has  ever 
before  existed,  has  been  awakened  among  the  Jews  them- 
selves, in  relation  to  the  truth  of  the  New  Testament,  which 
has  recently  been  translated  into  their  sacred  language,  and 
pretty  widely  diffused  among  them — consider  all  this,  and  it 
seems  to  me  that  no  unprejudiced  mind  can  retain  a  serious 
doubt,  either  of  the  final  accomj)lishnient  of  the  prophecy  we 
consider,  or  that  the  time  of  its  fulfilment  is  drawing  nigh. 

On  the  subject  of  prophecy  I  shall  only  further  observe, 
that  what  is  intimated  in  the  predictions  we  have  been  con- 
sidering, namely,  that  "the  fulness  of  the  Gentiles"  shall  be 
brought  into  the  Christian  church,  is  elsewhere  explicitly  and 
repeatedly  foretold;  and  that  the  signs  of  the  times  in  which 
we  live  seem  to  indicate  the  near  approach  of  the  millennial 
age— the  age  vvhen  the  great  adversary  of  souls  "  shall  de- 
ceive the  nations  no  more  till  a -thousand  years  be  fulfilled;" 
when  "  the  knowledge  of  the  glory  of  the  Lord  shall  cover 
the  earth  as  the  waters  do  the  seas ;"  and  "  all  the  ends  of 
the  earth  shall  see  the  salvation  of  our  God  "  More  I  think 
has  been  done  for  the  spread  of  the  gospel  within  the  last 
thirty  years,  than  had  been  done  in  the  twelve  preceding  cen- 
turies:  and  it  does  seem  to  me  that  no  one  can  take  a  just 
survey  of  the  world  at  the  present  time,  and  not  be  convinced 
that  the  glorious  days  so  long  predicted  and  promised  to  the 
church,  and  the  subject  of  her  unceasing  prayers  and  hopes, 
are  even  now  beginning  to  dawn  on  the  world. 

Thus,  my  j^oung  friends,  have  I  laid  before  you  a  brief  and 
imperfect  statement  of  a  part  of  the  abundant  evidence  we 
possess,  that  the  scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments 
are,  in  deed  and  in  truth,  the  word  of  God.  I  shall  close  the 
lecture  with  three  short  but  important  advices,  arising  out  of 
what  yoii  have  now  heard. 

1.  Never  read  infidel  books  to  gratify  curiosity,  or  as  a 
matter  of  amusement.  Curiosity  and  amusement  are  im- 
proper motives  to  have  influence  in  so  aerious  and  sacred  a 
concern  as  that  which  relates  to  the  question,  whether  God 

K 


74  LECTURES  ON  THE 

has,  or  has  not,  spoken  to  us  in  the  Bible:  and  if  you  are 
found  to  trifle  with  this  subject,  you  will  do  it  at  an  awful 
peril.     Those  who  are   called  to  defend   our  holy  relig;ion, 
whether  among  the  clergy  or  the  laity,  must  read   and  ex- 
amine the  writings  in  which   that  religion  is  attacked,  in  or- 
der to  make  its  defence.     But  all  unnecessary  and  voluntary 
familiarity  with  these  publications,  is  certainly  dangerous  and 
injurious — to    those    who   are    not   prepared   to    answer   the 
subtle  objections  of  learned  infidels,  they  may  be  fatally  per- 
nicious; and  even  to  those  who  are  well  prepared  to  answer 
them,  they  may  occasion  much  trouble  and  vexation.     They 
may  fill  the  mind  with  harassing  thoughts,  which  although 
the  reason  and  the  judgment  are  perfectly  satisfied  that  they 
ought  not  to  be  indulged,  and   that  the  objections  suggested 
have  been   most  solidly  and   repeatedly  answered,  may,  not- 
withstanding, still  occur,  and  for  a  long  time  worry  and  tor- 
ment, though    they  never  produce  a   change  of  opinion,  or 
have  any  efiect  on   practice.     Do  not  mistake  me,  my  young 
friends — I  am  not  advising  you  to  a  blind  and  implicit  faith 
in  the  truth  of  revelation.     If  you  have  time  and   inclina- 
tion, and  the  means  of  doing  it,  and  find  it  necessary  to  your 
satisfaction  or  stability  in  religion,  examine  this  whole  sub- 
ject thoi'ouy;hly.     Read  with  care,  and  seriousness,  and   can- 
dour, and  prayer  for  light  and  direction,  the  ablest  writers  on 
both  sides  of  the  question;  and  at  the  same  time  read  largely 
in  the  Bible  itself.     For  the  result  of  such  a  course  I  have  no 
anxiety.     I  solemnly  believe  that  it  never  yet  ended  in  any 
other  way  than  in  a  deep  and  settled  conviction  t^hat  our  Scrip* 
tures  contain  a  revelation  from  God.     It  is  not  against  in- 
quiry that  I  advise  and  warn  you,  but  against  inquiry  un- 
fairly conducted;  and  against  meddling  with  profane  and 
blasphemous  writings  as  a  matter  of  choice ,  or  without  a  suf- 
ficient reason  for  doing  it.     Against  this,  as  pregnant  with 
certain  mischief,  I  do  most  seriously  warn  you;  and  I  be- 
seech you  to  remember  the  warning  to  the  end  of  life. 

2.  Study  the  sac  ^d  scriptures  continually,  and  become  as 
accurate  as  you  can  in  your  knowledge  of  all  that  they  con- 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  75 

tain.  The  advanta2;es  result! na:  from  a  correct  and  familiar 
knowledge  of  the  contents  of  the  sacred  volume,  are  not  easily 
enumerated.  Such  a  knowledge  has  a  far  more  extensive  in- 
fluence in  enlightening  the  understanding,  and  in  cherishing  a 
just  taste,  and  in  giving  us  a  right  view  of  the  human  heart 
and  character,  than  is  commonly  imagined.  It  puts  us  in 
possession  of  the  only  perfectly  correct  system  of  morals;  and 
shows  us  the  grounds  of  many  of  the  laws  and  institutions  of 
our  country.  It  gives  us  a  clear  view  of  the  infinite  superi- 
ority of  the  religious  system  of  the  Bible  to  the  systems  of 
the  most  refined  nations  of  heathen  antiquity,  teaches  us 
wherein  the  true  and  acceptable  worship  of  God  consists,  and 
qualifies  us  to  hear  sermons  with  advantage,  and  to  judge 
rightly,  not  only  of  them  but  of  all  the  other  disquisitions  on 
the  subject  of  religion,  whether  written  or  spoken,  which  pro- 
fess to  be  derived  from  them  or  sanctioned  by  them.  Make 
use  of  all  the  assistances  to  which  you  have  access,  to  im- 
prove your  knowledge  of  the  sacred  scriptures;  consult  maps, 
plates,  travels,  geographical  and  historical  discussions.  With- 
out some  knowledge  of  the  country,  habits,  and  manners,  to 
which  the  sacred  writers  refer,  they  cannot  be  clearly  and  ful- 
ly understood;  and  reading  on  these  subjects  is  at  once  both 
pleasant  and  profitable.  Oh,  that  it  could  take  the  place  of 
that  eager  perusal  of  worthless,  and  worse  than  worthless 
publications,  in  which  so  many  youth  of  both  sexes,  now  con- 
sume so  large  a  portion  of  their  precious  time!  Do  not  ne- 
glect the  aid  of  commentators;  and  yet  do  not  take  your  re- 
ligious system  implicitly  from  any  of  them.  Read  and  judge 
of  the  sacred  scriptures  for  yourselves;  always  remembering 
that  for  yourselves  j'ou  must  answer  to  the  Searcher  of 
hearts,  for  the  manner  in  which  you  receive  and  treat  his  re- 
vealed will. 

3.  Remember  that  there  is  a  saving  knowledge  of  the  holy 
scriptures,  which  diflfers  from  all  merely  speculative  know^- 
ledge,  however  profound  or  accurate.  Memorable  indeed  is 
that  petition  in  the  last  intercessory  prayer  of  our  blessed  Sa- 
viour,— "  Sanctify    them    through    thy   truth,   thy   word    is 


76  LECTURES  ON  THE 

truth,"  Your  own  observation  may  satisfy  you,  that  there 
are  many  who  are  by  no  means  i2;norant  of  the  proper  im- 
port of  the  !ano;uage  of  the  sacred  volume,  who  yet  are  not 
sanctified  by  the  truths  which  it  teaches  and  reveals.  To 
produce  this  effect,  the  truth  must  be  set  home  on  the  heart 
and  conscience,  by  the  operation  of  the  same  Holy  Spirit  by 
whom  the  sacred  scriptures  were  indited.  Speaking  of  this 
office  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  Saviour  himself  says — "  When 
he  is  come,  he  will  reprove  the  world  of  sin,  and  of  righteous- 
ness, and  of  judgment — He  shall  glorify  me;  for  he  shall  re- 
ceive of  mine  and  shall  show  it  unto  you."  The  Saviour  hath 
also  said — "If  ye  then  being  evil,  know  how^  to  give  good 
gifts  unto  your  children,  how  much  more  shall  your  heaven- 
ly Father  give  the  Holy  Spirit  to  them  that  ask  him?"  You 
cannot  desire  n)ore  encouragement  than  is  here  given  you,  to 
ask  earnestly  and  perseveringly  the  influence  and  aid  of  that 
Almighty  Agent,  by  whom  the  truths  which  he  hath  revealed 
are  made  known,  in  their  saving  influence,  to  the  souls  of 
men — by  whom  the  human  mind  is  enlightened  into  "the 
knowledge  of  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,"  and  formed  to  such 
a  spiritual  taste  and  love  of  the  truth,  and  made  to  know  such 
a  sweet  and  powerful  application  of  it,  as  to  render  the  lan- 
guage of  the  Psalmist  the  most  expressive  of  the  views  and 
feelings  which  it  produces,  of  any  that  can  be  devised — 
"  The  law  of  the  Lord  is  perfect,  converting  the  soul ;  the 
testimony  of  the  Lord  is  sure,  making  wise  the  simple;  the 
statutes  of  the  Lord  are  right,  rejoicing  the  heart;  the  com- 
mandment of  the  Lord  is  pure,  enlightening  the  eyes;  the 
fear  of  the  Lord  is  clean,  enduring  for  ever;  the  judgments  of 
the  Lord  are  true  and  righteous  altogether;  more  to  be  de- 
sired are  they  than  gold,  yea  than  much  fine  gold;  sweeter 
also  than  honey  and  the  honey-comb.  Moreover  by  them  is 
thy  servant  warned,  and  in  keeping  of  them  there  is  great  re- 
ward— The  entrance  of  thy  word  giveth  light,  it  giveth  un- 
derstanding unto  the  simple — Oh,  how  love  I  thy  law!  it  is 
my  meditation  all  the  day."  When  you  once  experience 
this  blessed  effect  of  the  divine  w^ord — an  effect  which  has 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  // 

been  actually  experienced  by  many  thousands  in  every  age 
of  the  church,  you  will  want  no  further  evidence  of  its 
divine  origin  :  you  will  know  for  yourselves  that  it  is  the 
power  and  the  wisdom  of  God  unto  salvation  to  "  every  one 
that  believeth."  And  till  this  effect  is  experienced,  remem- 
ber that  the  gjreat  design  for  which  the  sacred  oracles  have 
been  given,  has  not  been  answered  in  your  case;  that  you 
have  hitherto  perused  them  comparatively  in  vain;  nay,  that 
the  light  which  you  have  derived  from  them  has  served  great- 
ly to  aggravate  all  your  offences  against  God,  and  that  with- 
out rfepentance  it  will  greatly  aggravate  your  final  condemna- 
tion. Whenever,  therefore,  you  read  the  holy  scriptures, 
breathe  forth  the  ardent  aspirations  of  your  souls  for  the  en- 
lightening and  sanctifying. influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  that 
his  word  may  become  "  quick  and  powerful — to  open  your 
eyes,  and  to  turn  you  from  darkness  to  light,  and  from  the 
power  of  Satan  unto  God;  that  you  may  receive  forgiveness 
of  sins,  and  inheritance  among  them  that  are  sanctified  by 
faith  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus."     Amen. 


The  passage  referred  to  in  page  63,  is  as  follows: 

"  The  loftiest  passage,  in  the  most  sublime  of  all  human  productions,  is  the 
beginning  of  the  eighth  book  of  Homer's  Iliad.  There  the  greatest  of  all  hu- 
man imaginations  labours  to  describe,  not  a  hero,  but  a  God  ;  not  an  inferior, 
but  the  Supreme  God;  not  to  show  his  superiority  to  mortals,  but  to  the  hea- 
venly powers;  and  not  to  one,  but  to  them  all  united.  The  following  is  a  ver- 
bal translation  of  it. 

" '  The  saffron-coloured  morning  was  spread  over  the  wfiole  earth ;  and 
Jupiter,  rejoicing  in  his  thunder,  held  an  assembly  of  the  gods  upon  the  high- 
est top  of  the  many-headed  Olympus.  He  himself  made  a  speech  to  them, 
and  all  the  gods  together  listened. 

" '  Hear  me,  all  ye  gods,  and  all  ye  goddesses,  that  I  may  say  what  my  soul 
in  my  breast  commands.  Let  not  therefore  any  female  deity,  or  any  male,  en- 
deavour to  break  through  my  word  ;  but  all  consent  together,  that  I  may  most 
quickly  perform  these  works.  Whomsoever,  therefore,  of  the  gods  I  shall  un- 
derstand to  have  gone  by  himself,  and  of  his  own  accord,  to  give  assistance 
either  to  the  Trojans  or  the  Greeks,  he  shall  return  to  Olympus  shamefully 
wounded ;  or  I  will  throw  him,  seized  by  me,  into  dark  hell,  very  far  off,  where 
the  most  deep  abyss  is  under  the  earth ;  where  there  are  iron  gates,  and  a 
brazen  threshold,  as  far  within  hell,  as  heaven  is  distant  from  the  earth.  Hp 
will  then  know,  by  how  much  I  am  the  most  powerful  of  all  the  gods 


78  LECTURES  ON  THE 

"  '  But  come,  try,  O  ye  gods,  that  ye  may  all  see.  Hang  down  the  golden 
chain  from  heaven,  hang  upon  it  all  ye  gods,  and  all  ye  goddesses;  but  ye 
shall  not  be  able  to  draw  from  heaven  to  the  ground  Jupiter  the  great  coun- 
sellor, though  je  strive  ever  so  much.  But  when  I  afterwards  shall  be  will- 
ing to  draw,  I  shall  lift  both  the  earth  itself,  and  the  sea  itself  Then  I  shall 
bind  the  chain  round  the  top  of  Olympus,  and  they  shall  all  hang  aloft.  For 
so  much  am  I  above  gods  and  above  men.' 

"  With  this  most  masterly  passage  of  the  greatest  master  of  the  sublime,  of 
all  antiquity,  the  writer,  who  probably  had  the  greatest  natural  and  acquired 
advantages  of  any  mortal  for  perfecting  a  genius;  let  the  following  verbal 
translation  of  a  passage  from  writings  penned  by  one  brought  up  a  shepherd, 
and  in  a  country  where  learning  was  not  thought  of,  be  compared;  that  the 
difference  may  appear.  In  this  comparison,  1  know  of  no  unfair  adv|intage 
given  the  inspired  writer.  For  both  fragments  are  literally  translated ;  and  if 
the  critics  are  right,  the  Hehreio  original  is  verse,  as  well  as  the  Greek. 

"'  O  Lord,  my  God,  thou  art  very  great!  Thou  art  clothed  with  honour 
and  majesty!  Who  coverest  thyself  with  light  as  with  a  garment:  who 
Btretchest  out  the  heavens  like  a  canopy.  Who  layeth  the  beams  of  his  cham- 
bers in  the  waters:  who  maketh  the  clouds  his  chariot:  who  walketh  upon 
the  wings  of  the  wind.  Who  maketh  his  angels  spirits:  his  ministers  a  flame 
of  fire.  Who  laid  the  foundation  of  the  earth,  that  it  should  not  be  moved  for 
ever.  Thou  coveredst  it  with  the  deep,  as  with  a  garment:  the  waters  stood 
above  the  mountains.  At  thy  rebuke  they  fled ;  at  the  voice  of  thy  thunder 
they  hasted  away.  They  go  up  by  the  mountains;  they  go  down  by  the  val- 
lies  unto  the  place  thou  hast  founded  for  them.  Thou  hast  set  a  bound,  that 
they  may  not  pass  over;  that  they  turn  not  again  to  cover  the  earth. 

"  '  O  Lord,  how  manifold  are  thy  works!  In  wisdom  hast  thou  made  them 
all.  The  earth  is  full  of  thy  riches.  So  is  the  great  and  wide  sea,  wherein 
are  creatures,  innumerable,  both  small  and  great.  There  go  the  ships.  There 
is  that  leviathan,  which  thou  hast  made  to  play  therein.  These  all  wait  upon 
thee,  that  thou  mayest  give  them  their  food  in  due  season.  That  thou  givest 
them  they  gather.  Thou  openest  thy  hand  :  they  are  filled  with  good.  Thou 
hidest  thy  face  :  they  are  troubled.  They  die,  and  return  to  their  dust.  Thou 
sendest  forth  thy  spirit :  they  are  created  ;  and  thou  renewest  the  face  of  the 
earth.  The  glory  of  the  Lord  shall  endure  forever.  The  Lord  shall  rejoice 
in  his  works.  He  looketh  on  the  earth  and  it  trembleth.  He  toucheth  the 
hills;  and  they  smoke.  I  will  sing  unto  the  Lord  as  long  as  I  live.  I  will 
sing  praise  unto  my  God,  while  I  have  my  being.' 

''  I  appeal  to  every  reader,  whether  the  former  of  these  two  fragments  is 
not,  when  compared  with  the  latter,  a  school-boy's  theme,  a  capucinade,  or  a 
Grubstreet  ballad,  rather  than  a  production  fit  to  be  named  with  any  part  of 
the  inspired  writings  Nor  is  it  only  in  one  instance,  that  the  superiority  of 
the  scripture  style  to  all  human  compositions  appear.  But  taking  the  whole 
body  of  sacred  poesy,  and  the  whole  of  profane,  and  considering  the  character 
of  the  Jehovah  of  the  former,  and  the  Jupiter  of  the  latter,  every  one  must 
uee  the  difference  to  be  out  of  all  reach  of  comparison.    And,  what  is  wonder- 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  79 

fully  remarkable,  Scripture  poesy,  though  penned  by  a  number  of  different 
hands,  as  Moses,  David,  Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  and  the  rest,  in  very  distant  ages, 
gives  a  distinct  and  uniform  idea  of  the  Supreme  Being,  no  where  deviating 
into  any  thing  mean,  or  unworthy  of  him ;  and  still  even  where  he  is  spoken  of 
in  a  manner  suited  to  the  general  apprehension  of  mankind,  his  dignity  and 
majesty  are  duly  kept  up.  Whereas,  there  is  not  one  of  the  ancient  H-^athen 
poets,  who  gives  a  consistent  idea  of  the  Supreme  God,  or  keeps  up  his  cha- 
racter throughout.  Homer,  in  the  same  poem,  describes  his  Jupiter  with  a 
great  deal  of  majesty,  and  in  another  represents  him  as  deceived  by  his  wife 
Juno,  and  overcome  with  lust  and  sleep,  while  the  inferior  deities  are  playing 
what  tricks  they  please,  contrary  to  his  intention.  In  short,  the  Supreme 
God  is  by  Homer  described  as  a  bully ;  by  Virgil,  as  a  tyrant ;  by  Ovid,  as  a 
beastly  voluptuary;  and  \,y  Lucretius,  as  a  lazy  drone.  So  that,  if  the  cavils 
of  the  opposers  of  Revelation,  with  respect  to  the  style  of  Scripture,  were  of 
much  more  consequence  than  they  are;  it  would  still  be  the  easiest,  and  in- 
deed the  only  rational  way  of  accounting  for  the  amazing  superiority  of  those 
writings  to  the  greatest  human  productions,  in  spite  of  the  disadvantages  of 
want  of  learning,  and  the  like,  which  the  sacred  penmen  laboured  under  ;  to  as- 
cribe the  sentiments  in  them  to  Divine  Inspiration." — Burgh's  Dignity  of  Hu- 
man  Nature,  hook  iv.  sec.  i. 


LECTURE  V. 

What  do  the  Scriptures  principally  teach? 

We  now  proceed  to  discuss  the  third  answer  of  our  cate- 
chism. It  is  stated  thus — ''  The  scriptures  principally  teach 
what  man  is  to  believe  concerning  God,  and  what  duty  God 
requires  of  man." 

You  ought  to  be  distinctly  apprized,  my  young  friends, 
that  our  Shorter  Catechism  was  intended  to  contain  only  a 
compendious  and  connected  system  of  revealed  truth — That 
is,  it  was  not  intended  either  to  go  into  long  explanations,  or 
to  take  in  all  th'e  subordinate  parts  of  the  system,  but  only 
those  things  which  are  of  leading  importance.  Neither  was 
it  intended  to  consider  any  point  of  what  has  been  called  na- 
tural reli^ion^  in  any  other  view  than  as  it  is  found  in  the 
Bible.  Hence,  after  having  explained  what  is  the  chief  end 
or  design  of  man,  and  recognised  the  holy  scriptures  as  the 
only  rule  of  direction  in  religious  duty,  the  answer  before  us 


80  LECTURES  ON  THE 

makes  a  distribution ,  or  lays  down  the  method,  of  the  fol- 
lowing treatise.  The  distribution  or  method  is  very  short 
and  summary,  and  yet  very  expressive  and  complete.  It  is 
— I.  What  we  are  to  believe.  II.  What  we  are  to  do. — Or, 
in  other  words,  faith  and  practice  ;  or,  doctrines  and  duties. 

As  the  answer  before  us  was  intended  to  specify  the  plan 
or  method  of  the  following  part  of  the  catechism,  and  as  this 
has  just  been  stated,  it  would  seem  that  we  ought  to  proceed 
immediately  to  the  next  question.  But  I  remark,  that  as  the 
authors  of  the  catechism  intended  it  to  be  as  compendious  as 
possible,  so  they  appear  to  have  designed  that  their  very  ar- 
rangement should  have  a  significant  import;  and  on  consider- 
ing it,  I  find  that  some  points  of  much  importance,  especially 
to  young  persons,  must  be  introduced  here,  or  not  find  so 
suitable  a  place,  in  any  other  part  of  our  course.  I  shall  pro- 
ceed, therefore,  to  notice  these  points;  and  shall  show,  as  I 
proceed,  how  they  arise  out  of  this  answer. 

My  first  remark  shall  be  on  the  word  principalis/, — "The 
scriptures  principally  teach"  certain  truths,  or  doctrines.  It 
is  here  intimated  that  the  sacred  writings  teach  some  things 
beside  what  we  are  to  believe  in  regard  to  God,  and  what  we 
are  to  consider  as  our  duty  to  him.  The  Bible  contains  a 
good  deal  of  biography,  and  history,  and  many  genealogies; 
and  all  that  it  contains  is  unmixed  verity,  and  none  of  it  is 
without  its  use.  But  the  word  we  consider  intimates,  and 
the  fact  is  unquestionably  so,  that  some  parts  of  the  scripture 
are  much  more  important  than  others.  The  most  important, 
that  is,  the  principal  parts,  are  those  which  teach  us  faith 
and  practice.  If  men  were  uninformed  in  regard  to  some  of 
the  other  parts  of  scripture,  they  might  still  understand  the 
revealed  plan  of  salvation  :  and  when  real  Christians  differ,  as 
they  often  do,  about  other  things,  the  difference  is  about  the 
unessentials  of  religion.  But  faith  and  practice — what  we 
are  to  believe,  and  what  we  are  to  do — constitute  the  very 
substance,  the  principal  part  of  true  religion,  or  of  divine  re- 
velation. Correctness  here,  at  least  to  a  certain  extent,  is 
essential  to  salvation. 


r 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  SI 


This  leads  me  to  another  remark  of  importance.  The 
answer  under  consideration,  you  may  observe,  places  what 
we  are  to  believe,  before  what  we  are  to  do.  This  was  not 
without  design.  It  was  intended  to  intimate,  that  if  our  prac- 
tice be  not  the  result  of  right  principles  and  right  motives,  it 
is  nothing  worth  in  the  sight  of  God.  This  is  a  most  interest- 
ing truth,  and  a  great  part  of  all  the  false  religion  in  the  world 
springs  from  not  regarding  it.  Recollect,  I  beseech  you,  my 
young  friends,  that  in  religion  we  have  to  do  with  the  all 
seeing  and  heart  searching  God.  Nothing  is  right  in  his 
sight,  no  outvvard  action  is  acceptable,  unless  it  proceed  from 
a  good  and  proper  motive.  Nor  is  this,  in  any  respect,  a 
rigorous  procedure.  You  will  find,  if  you  examine  attentive- 
ly, that  you  act  upon  the  same  principle  yourselves,  so  far  as 
your  knowledge  will  permit  you  to  do  it.  How  often  has  it 
happened  that  a  man  has  acquired  esteem  for  his  civility,  per- 
haps for  real  kindheartedness  and  benevolence,  because  he 
has  appeared  to  take  a  very  friendly  interest  in  eVfery  thing 
that  related  to  the  character  or  accommodation  of  those  with 
whom  he  had  intercourse  :  And  yet  it  has  afterwards  been 
discovered,  that  this  man  was  unquestionably  one  of  the  most 
selfish  of  his  race;  that  in  all  his  apparent  benevolence  he 
was  only  seeking  to  serve  himself;  that  it  was  in  pursuit  of 
this  object  that  all  his  courtesy  and  seeming  kindness  was 
manifested;  and  that  he  had  really  dishonoured  and  injured 
those  to  whom  his  plausible  behaviour  had  so  strongly  recom- 
mended him.  Do  you  not  estimate  this  man's  character  en- 
tirely by  his  motives,  and  not  by  his  visible  conduct?  Do 
you  not  detest  him  for  having  acted  so  fairly,  when  his  mo- 
tives were  so  base — even  more  than  you  would  have  done  if 
he  had,  without  disguise,  appeared  the  selfish  being  that  he 
really  was?  Think,  then,  that  the  motives  of  every  human 
action  are,  at  the  time  it  takes  place,  perfectly  known  to 
God  ;  and  acknowledge  that  his  proceeding  is  most  equitable, 
in  making  motive^  and  not  action,  the  test  by  which  he  will 
try  and  treat  us.  It  is  from  some  selfish  motive,  and  not 
from  any  love,  or  any  regard  to  God  whatever,  that  a  large 

L 


82  LECTURES  ON  THE 

part  of  mankind  show  all  the  respect  which  they  do  show,  to 
his  laws  and  commandments.  "  God  is  not  in  all  their 
thoughts."  The  Deity,  therefore,  would  practically  deny  his 
own  omniscience,  or  violate  his  own  justice  and  equity,  if  he 
accepted  the  outward  acts  of  such  men,  as  a  part  of  the  service 
which  he  requires.  This  he  will  never  do;  and  hence  the 
just  complaint  made  ag;ainst  his  ancient  professins;  people, 
which  was  quoted  by  our  Saviour  when  he  charj2;ed  the 
scribes  and  Pharisees  with  hypocrisy — '*  This  people  draweth 
nigh  unto  me  with  their  mouth,  and  honoureth  me  with  their 
lips,  but  their  heart  is  far  from  me." 

We  see,  then,  that  right  inward  principles  and  motives  are, 
and  must  be,  indispensable  to  the  acceptable  service  of  God. 
Now,  a  right  faith  is  among  these  inward  principles.  It  is 
necessary  to  the  views  and  motives  by  which  we  must  be 
guided  and  influenced,  and  to  the  acts  which  we  must  put 
forth,  in  doing  that  which  is  well  pleasing  to  our  Maker. 
We  cannot  indeed  make  the  first  approach  to  God,  without 
some  measure  of  a  right  faith.  "  For  he  that  cometh  to  God 
must  believe  that  he  is,  and  that  he  is  a  rewarder  of  them  that 
diligently  seek  him."  Our  Saviour,  in  the  days  of  his  flesh, 
declared  to  those  whom  he  addressed,  that  there  was  a  point 
of  faith  which  was  essential  to  their  salvation — "  If  ye  be- 
lieve not  that  I  am  he,  ye  shall  die  in  your  sins." 

It  is  a  great  error  to  suppose  and  represent,  as  some  appear 
to  do,  that  faith  is  required  by  a  mere  arbitrary  act  of  God; 
without  our  being  able  to  discern  how  believing  will  make  us 
the  better,  or  disbelieving  make  us  the  worse.  No  verily — 
Faith  is  always  required  on  account  of  the  benefits  which  ac- 
company, or  the  use  that  is  to  be  made  of  it.  Suppose  you 
were  ill  of  a  mortal  disease,  and  that  there  was  one,  and  but 
one,  remedy  in  the  world,  which  would  preserve  your  life. 
Suppose  you  had  heard  of  this  remedy,  but  from  utterly  dis- 
crediting its  efficacy,  you  absolutely  refused  to  take  it.  You 
would  die,  and  your  death  would  be  justly  attributed  to  your 
want  of  faith  in  the  remedy.  The  faith  was  essentially  neces- 
sary to  that  act  which  would  have  saved  your  life — necessary 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  8'3 

from  the  very  nature  of  the  case.  It  is  exactly  the  same  in 
the  2:ospel  system  of  salvation.  The  whole  human  race  are 
infected  with  a  moral  malady,  which,  if  left  to  itself,  will  ine- 
vitably prove  fatal.  There  is  one,  and  but  one,  remedy  in 
the  world,  which  will  certainly  save  the  soul.  "He  that  be= 
lieveth  and  is  baptized  shall  be  saved,  and  he  that  believeth 
not  shall  be  damned."  By  faith  the  soul  is  rested  on  Christ 
alone  for  salvation.  Without  this  faith,  it  is  impossible  that 
the  act  by  which  we  are  to  be  saved  can  be  performed ;  and 
as  there  "is  no  other  name  ^iven  under  heaven  among  men 
whereby  we  must  be  saved,"  but  the  name  of  Christ  alone, — 
if  he  be  discredited  and  rejected,  we  perish  of  course.  You 
perceive,  then,  that  faith  is  not  a  mere  speculative,  inopera- 
tive crediting;  of  a  fact;  but  that  it  is  required  and  is  essential, 
on  account  of  the  use  that  is  to  be  made  of  it — the  influence 
th&t  it  is  to  have  practicrtlly  on  its  possessor.  Men  may 
quarrel  if  they  will  with  this  appointment  of  their  Creator; 
but  it  is  utterly  false  to  say  that  faith  produces  no  practical 
effect,  which  may  not  be  produced  on  those  who  want  it.  He 
who  has  faith — I  repeat — rests  for  salvation  on  the  only  and 
the  all  sufficient  Saviour :  he  who  has  not  faith,  must  rest  on 
some  false  foundation,  which  will  certainly  be  swept  away  in 
the  hour  of  his  utmost  necessity. 

The  connexion  between  truth  and  duty  is  made  the  subject 
of  a  section,  In  a  summary  given  of  the  fundamental  principles 
of  our  church,  in  the  introduction  to  the  Form  of  Govern- 
ment. It  stands  thus:  "Truth  is  in  order  to  goodness;  and 
the  areat  touchstone  ot  truth,  is  its  tendency  to  promote  holi- 
ness; according  to  our  Saviour's  rule,  '  By  their  fruits  ye 
shall  know  them.'  And  no  opinion  can  be  either  more  per- 
nicious, or  more  absurd,  than  that  which  brings  truth  and 
falsehood  upon  a  level,  and  represents  it  as  of  no  consequence 
what  a  man's  opinions  are.  On  the  contrary,  we  are  per- 
suaded, that  there  is  an  inseparable  connexion  between  faith 
and  practice,  truth  and  duty.  Otherwise  it  would  be  of  no 
conseqiience  either  to  discover  truth,  or  to  embrace  it." 

This  section  was  intended  directly  to  counteract  a  loose 


84  LECTURES  ON  THE 

and  dangerous  notion,  which  is  very  prevalent  in  the  world, 
and  is  recommended  by  the  guise  of  liberality,  or  enlarged 
charity,  which  it  assumes,  and  of  which  it  always  boasts. 
The  notion  to  which  I  refer  is  commonly  expressed  in  these 
words — "  It  is  no  matter  what  a  man  believes,  if  his  life  be 
right."  Mr.  Pope,  who  was  infinitely  a  better  poet  than  a 
divine  or  casuist,  and  who  is  known  to  have  borrowed  the 
leading  principles  of  his  moral  system  from  the  infidel  Boling- 
broke,  has  lent  his  sanction  to  this  absurd  and  pernicious  no- 
tion— He  says 

"  For  modes  of  faith  let  graceless  bigots  fight, 
His  can't  be  wrong  whose  life  is  in  the  right." 

It  is  highly  probable  that  the  sentiment  I  combat  has  de- 
rived not  a  little  of  its  currency  from  this  very  couplet.  Let 
us  then  examine  it  carefully.  For  "  graceless  bigots,"  who 
"  fight"  for  religion,  we  make  no  apology.  Let  them  receive 
all  the  reprehension  and  all  the  ridicule,  with  which  any  one 
may  be  disposed  to  treat  rhem.  Fighting  for  religion,  either 
with  military  arms,  or  with  words  dictated  by  angry  and 
malevolent  passions,  is  contrary  to  the  whole  scope  and  spirit 
of  the  gospel.  "  The  weapons  of  this  warfare  are  not  carnal," 
but  spiritual;  although  they  are  '^mighty  through  God  to 
the  pulling  down  of  strong  holds"  of  error.  But  is  it  true, 
that  "  a  man's  faith  cannot  be  wrong,  if  his  life  is  in  the 
right?"  Let  us  try  to  ascertain  clearly,  if  we  can,  what  is 
meant  by  this  assertion.  In  a  certain  sense  a  man's  lift 
comprises  all  his  thoughts,  words  and  actions;  and  of  course, 
if  these  be  all  right,  his  faith  will  be  right.  But  Mr.  Pope 
certainly  did  not  mean  to  express  such  a  bald  truism  as  this. 
He  doubtless  meant  to  express  precisely  the  notion  already 
stated  in  other  words — "that  if  a  man's  external  conduct  be 
right,  it  is  no  matter  what  is  his  faith,  or  what  he  believes." 
Now,  in  regard  to  this  I  remark,  that  a  supposition  is  here 
made  of  what  does  not  take  place  in  fact,  except  partially  in  a 
few  rare  instances,  and  these  of  such  a  character  as  to  be  un- 
worthy of  approbation  or  imitation  :  and  therefore  I  deny  the 


SHORTER    CATECHISM.  85 

truth  and  justice  of  the  proposition  .altogether,  and  maintain 
that  it  promulges  a  most  dangerous  practical  error.  It  is  cal- 
culated, and  was  really  intended  to  teach,  that  a  man  may  lead 
a  good  life,  let  his  faith  be  what  it  may;  and  consequently 
that  belief,  or  inward  principle,  is  of  little  or  no  account — 
having  no  necessary  or  natural  connexion  with  right  conduct. 
It  has  already  been  shown,  and  I  hope  satisfactorily,  that  the 
heart  searching  God  judges  of  our  character  entirely  by  what 
is  within  us— Outward  conduct  is  nothing  in  his  sight,  further 
than  as  it  is  the  fair  expression  of  the  temper  of  our  hearts, 
and  the  nature  of  our  motives;  and  consequently  if  these  be 
wrong,  our  final  judge  will  condemn  us,  be  our  visible  prac- 
tice what  it  may.  But  I  ask,  can  our  principles  and  motives 
be  all  wrong,  and  yet  the  outward  conduct  be  right?  We  in- 
deed readily  and  gladly  make  the  admission,  that  from  the 
influence  of  early  education  in  establishing  right  feelings,  or 
from  not  seeing  the  legitimate  tendency  of  their  own  princi- 
ples, or  from  the  predominancy  of  common  sense  and  the 
strong  perception  of  moral  obligation,  men  sometimes  act 
much  better  than  we  should  expect  them  to  do,  from  the  sen- 
timents which  they  avow.  In  every  such  case  we  are  wont 
to  say,  and  with  great  propriety,  that  the  man's  heart  is  bet- 
ter than  his  head.  Even  here  however,  you  observe,  the 
heart  is  supposed  to  be  right — the  intellect  only  is  perverted. 
But  is  such  a  man  to  be  held  up  as  an  example,  or  as  exhibit- 
ing the  general  efiect  of  inward  principle  on  outward  conduct? 
No  assuredly.  He  acts  rightly  only  because  he  acts  inconsis- 
tently. And  there  is  always  danger  that  he  will  discover  his 
inconsistency;  and  on  doing  so,  that  he  will  change  his  good 
conduct,  rather  than  his  bad  reasoning. 

I  confess  I  hardly  know  how  to  reason  with  a  man,  who 
would  maintain  that  my  faith  and  opinions  have  not  a  natural 
and  almost  necessary  influence  on  my  outward  conduct. 
Such  an  influence  they  must  have,  if  I  do  not  play  the  hypo- 
crite, or  act  irrationally.  An  honest,  reasonable,  and  con- 
sistent man,  always  acts  agreeably  to  the  principles  which  he 
has  imbibed,  and  the  opinions  which  he  maintains.     It  is  this 


Q6  LECTURES  ON  THi: 

which  gives  him  the  character  he  sustains.  To  act  other- 
wise, is  ever  considered  as  proceeding  from  weakness,  from 
cowardice,  or  from  dissimulation.  I  know  of  no  dictate  of 
common  sense,  or  any  self  evident  truth,  more  clear,  than  that 
a  rational  bein^,  so  far  as  he  acts  rationally  and  honestly, 
must  act  agreeably  to  what  he  bel  eves  to  be  right:  which  is 
only  saying,  in  other  words,  that  his  faith  must  have  a  natu- 
ral influence  on  his  practice. 

Those  who  deny  the  connexion  between  truth  and  duty, 
faith  and  practice,  must  surely  set  some  bounds  to  their  sys- 
tem. If  not,  what,  I  ask,  is  the  use,  in  any  case,  of  endea- 
vouring to  discover  moral  truth?  If  truth  and  falsehood  are 
exactly  on  a  footing,  as  to  a  good  influence  on  the  mind  and 
on  practice,  there  is  surely  little  reason  to  be  inquisitive  or 
zealous  in  regard  to  truth.  Yet  these  very  men  are  earnest 
contenders  for  what  they  afiirm  to  be  truth.  But  further — 
will  they  maintain  that  a  man  may  be  an  atheist,  be  free  from 
all  fear  of  a  judgment  to  come,  believe  that  there  is  no  such 
thing  as  moral  obligation,  and  that  he  is  the  wisest  man  who 
takes  the  largest  share  of  present  sensual  gratification ;  and 
yet  be  as  good  a  man,  and  as  good  a  member  of  society,  as  a 
truly  pious  Christian  ?  Is  not  the  whole  experience  of  the 
world  arrayed  against  such  doctrine?  Does  not  that  experi- 
ence demonstrate,  that  so  far  as  the  atheistical  and  other  cor- 
rupt sentiments  I  have  mentioned  are  known  to  be  embraced 
by  an  individual,  they  render  him,  in  general  estimation,  a 
moral  monster;  and  that  so  far  as  they  prevail  in  a  communi- 
ty, they  are  destructive  of  all  order,  peace,  safety,  and  happi- 
ness, in  society — overturning  it  from  its  very  foundations? 
And  yet  to  all  this  length  will  the  system  I  oppose  go,  if  car- 
ried to  its  full  extent.  It  is  therefore  false  and  pernicious, 
and  that  in  the  highest  degree. 

Having  now  shown  that  there  is  an  indissoluble  connexion 
between  truth  and  duty,  faith  and  practice,  inward  principle 
and  outward  conduct,  I  think  it  proper  and  important  to  ob- 
serve, that  it  belongs  not  to  us  to  determine  the  exact  degree 
of  erroneous  faith,  which  may  consist  with  holding  what  is 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  87 

essential  to  salvation.  This  is  known  only  to  God.  And 
here  we  find  the  proper  and  ample  ground  of  true  Christian 
charity ;  so  far  as  it  has  a  bearing  on  this  subject.  We  may 
believe  that  an  individual  is  in  many  respects  erroneous,  and 
yet  hope  that  he  holds  all  essential  truth—That,  although, 
agreeably  to  the  scripture  representation,  he  has  been  build- 
ing with  much  "  wood,  hay,  and  stubbie,"  which  will  be 
burned,  and  he  sufier  loss;  still  he  may  be  saved,  "yet  so  as 
by  fire." 

Be  reminded,  however,  and  remember  it  carefully,  that 
when  you  make  allowance  for  the  errors  of  others,  this  is  not 
to  admit  that  they  are  not  en^ors.  Think  not  that  these  er- 
rors will  consist  with  innocence,  or  even  with  safety,  in  your- 
selves. They  may  not  be  incompatible  with  salvation  in  ano- 
ther, and  yet  they  may  be  so  in  you.  Your  light  and  infor- 
mation may  give  you  a  responsibility  which  others  have  not ; 
and  no  error  is  too  small  to  be  avoided.  Never  yield  to  the 
idle  talk,  which  you  will  probably  often  hear,  "  that  all  reli- 
gions are  equally  good."  Alas !  the  world  abounds  with  re- 
ligions which  are  ruinously  bad.  You  may  believe,  too,  that 
salvation  may  be  possible  in  a  particular  religion,  without  al- 
lowing it  to  be  as  good,  or  half  as  good,  as  another;  just  as  I 
may  admit  that  a  certain  vehicle  may  possibli/  carry  an  indi- 
vidual to  the  place  of  his  destination  in  safety,  without  admit- 
ting that  this  vehicle  is  at  all  to  be  compared  with  another — 
Another  may  be  safer,  easier,  swifter,  and  in  all  respects  in- 
comparably better. 

My  dear  youth — it  is  a  prevalent  and  lamentable  evil  of 
this  age  and  place,  that  a  large  proportion  of  the  people  have 
no  consistent  or  digested  system  of  religious  sentiments  and 
principles.  They  have  picked  up  one  opinion  here,  and  ano- 
ther there:  these  opinions  they  have  never  closely  examined; 
they  have  never  compared  them  carefully  with  the  scrip- 
tures, the  standard  of  truth:  they  live  along — uncomfortably 
enough — and  they  often  die  more  uncomfortably  than  they 
have  lived.  A  principal  object  which  I  have  in  view  in  this 
course  of  lectures  is,  to  endeavour  to  ground  you  fully  and 


88  tECTURES  ON  THE 

correctly  in  the  very  faith  of  the  gospel — "the  faith  which 
was  once  delivered  to  the  saints" — that  you  may  have  the  ad- 
vantage and  the  comfort  of  it,  both  in  life  and  in  death. 

You  are,  however,  by  no  means  to  suppose,  that  in  any 
thing  you  have  heard  at  this  time,  it  has  been  my  design,  to 
deny  or  undervalue  ihe  practical  part  of  religion,  or  the  per- 
formance of  Christian  duties.  No  verily — I  have  only 
aimed  to  lay  a  solid  foundation  for  practical  duty.  There  is 
an  error  here,  I  admit,  which  is  quite  as  bad  as  that  which  I 
have  exposed.  There  is  a  description  of  people  who  value 
themselves  on  their  correct,  systematick  knowledge  of  re- 
ligion, who,  notwithstanding,  never  practise  religion.  It 
would  seem  as  if  they  supposed  that  a  correct  creed  would 
save  their  souls:  whereas,  the  fact  is,  that  if  'Uhey  hold  the 
truth  in  unrighteousness" — if  *' they  know  their  Lord's  will, 
and  do  it  not, — they  will  be  beaten  with  many  stripes:" — 
They  will  perish  with  a  more  a,ij;gravated  condemnation  than 
the  ignorant  or  deluded.  Hence  it  has  sometimes  been  said, 
that  a  bad  life  is  the  worst  heresy  :  and  if  such  a  life  be  persist- 
ed in  to  the  last,  by  those  who  have  been  taught  the  truth  as  it 
is  in  Jesus,  their  doom  will  no  doubt  be  peculiarly  awful. 
This  notwithstanding,  it  is  of  the  utmost  importance  that  the 
mind  should  be  fixed  in  just  principles  of  religion,  even  be- 
fore practical,  piety  takes  place; — because,  as  already  shown, 
just  principles  naturally  lead  to  a  right  practice.  Corrupt 
principles  lay  the  conscience  to  sleep.  He  who  holds  them 
is  wrong  upon  system,  and  you  cannot  disturb  him  until  you 
have  broken  up  his  "refuge  of  lies."  But  he  who  trans- 
gresses practically,  while  his  principles  are  sound,  must  con- 
tend with  conscience.  You  can  address  him  with  arguments 
and  admonitions  drawn  from  what  he  admits  to  be  right — And 
even  without  this,  his  own  reflections,  especially  in  those 
hours  of  seriousness  which  occur  in  the  lives  of  all,  will  have 
a  constant  tendency  to  work  his  reformation.  Hence  we  see, 
in  fact,  that  those  who  have  been  early  and  well  indoctrinated 
in  religion,  do  so  often  become  practically  pious; — sometimes 
even  in  those  mournful  instances,  in  which,  for  a  season,  they 


SHORTER  CATECHISM. 


have  broken  restraining  bonds  asunder,  and  been  dissolute 
and  profane.  The  Spirit  of  all  grace,  operating  on  an  enhght- 
ened  understanding  and  the  remaining  sensibility  of  natural 
conscience,  brings  them  to  serious  consideration,  to  deep  re- 
pentance, to  an  earnest  application  to  the  atoning  blood  of  the 
Redeemer,  and  to  a  new  and  holy  life.  Of  such  momentous 
importance  is  it,  that  the  mind  have  clear  and  consistent  views 
of  revealed  truth,  and  be  rooted  and  grounded  in  it. 

From  what  you  have  now  heard  on  this  answer  in  the  cate- 
chism, I  shall  make,  in  concluding  the  lecture,  a  few  infer- 
ences of  a  practical  kind. 

1.  You  may  perceive,  from  what  has  been  said,  that  holding 
fast  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus^  and  even  contending  earnestly  for 
it,  is  not  inconsistent  with  genuine  Christian  charity.  This, 
indeed,  we  know  at  once  must  be  the  fact;  because  as  firm- 
ness in  the  faith,  and  Christian  charity,  are  both  duties,  and 
every  duty  must  be  consistent  with  every  other,  the  two  du- 
ties in  question  can  never  be  discordant.  But  we  here  per- 
ceive how  the  agreement  takes  place,  and  what  is  the  ground 
of  it.  There  are  certain  things,  both  in  faith  and  practice, 
which  are  essential  to  religion.  For  those  who  understand- 
ingly  deny  and  reject  these  things,  we  are  not  bound  to  exer- 
cise charity — if  by  charity  we  understand  the  regarding  of 
such  persons  as  being  in  a  state  of  safety  and  salvation.  We 
are,  indeed,  to  cherish  toward  them  the  most  kind  and  be- 
nevolent feelings,  and  to  seek  to  do  them  all  the  good  in  our 
power,  and  especially  to  bring  them  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
truth,  that  they  may  be  saved.  But  we  must  either  renounce 
our  adherence  to  the  fundamentals  of  religion  ourselves,  or 
regard  them  as  in  a  state  not  only  dangerous  but  ruinous.  We 
cannot  do  the  former,  and  must  therefore,  however  reluctant- 
ly, do  the  latter.  Yet  genuine  charity  will  make  all  due  al- 
lowance for  the  prejudices  of  education,  for  the  want  of  cor- 
rect information,  and  for  numerous  other  causes,  which  pro- 
duce error,  confusion  and  indistinctness,  in  relation  to  some 
important  doctrines  of  religion.  Charity  will  also  lead  us  to 
hope,   when  the  essentials  of  religion   are   not  openly  and 

M 


90  LECTURES  ON  THE 

avowedly  rejected,  that  they  may  be  held,  (though  it  be  with 
a  mixture  of  much  error,)  in  such  manner  as  to  consist  with 
a  measure  of  vital  piety:  And  real  fervent  charity  will  always 
incline  its  possessor  to  embrace,  in  cordial  Christian  affection, 
all  who  appear  to  love  the  Saviour  in  sincerity,  by  whatever 
name  they  may  be  called,  or  to  whatever  sect,  or  church,  or 
denomination  of  Christians  they  may  belong.  I  have  never 
read  of  an  uninspired  man  who  appeared  to  me  to  have  a 
more  diffusive  genuine  charity  than  Dr.  John  Owen  ;  and  yet 
I  know  of  none  who  has  more  zealously,  laboriously,  and  suc- 
cessfully, contended  for  all  the  important  doctrines  of  the 
Bible. 

2.  You  may  perceive,  from  what  you  have  heard  on  the 
answer  in  the  catechism  discussed  at  this  time,  that  there  are 
some  parts  of  the  scriptures  which  should  be  read  more  fre- 
quently, and  more  studiously  than  others.  This  follows  from 
the  distinction  made  between  what  the  scr'iptares principalis 
teach,  and  what  they  teach  incidentally  and  subordinately.  It 
is,  however,  by  no  means  the  desi^jn  of  this  remark,  to  recom- 
mend the  omission  of  any  part  of  the  sacred  volume.  On  the 
contrary,  I  would  earnestly  recommend,  as  a  matter  of  great 
importance,  that  the  Bible  be  read  throughout,  and  in  regular 
order — and  that  frequently.  If  there  be  any  young  person 
now  hearing  me,  who  has  reached  fifteen  years  of  age,  with- 
out having  read  the  Bible  carefully  through,  I  would  say 
that  such  an  individual,  male  or  female,  has  neglected  an  im- 
portant duty — an  important  duty  which  he  or  she  ought  im- 
mediately to  begin  to  perform. 

There  is  a  great  advantage  in  knowing  what  is  contained  in 
every  part  of  this  holy  book  ; — for  almost  every  part  has  some 
connexion  with  another  part.  It  is,  however,  perfectly  con- 
sistent with  this  to  say,  that  some  parts  should  be  perused 
much  oftener  than  others.  The  whole  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment should,  I  think,  be  read  more  frequently  and  studiously 
than  the  Old;  and  the  devotional,  didactick,  and  historical 
parts  of  the  whole  Bible,  more  frequently  than  the  rest.  The 
book  of  Psalms,  and  the  book  of  Proverbs,  should  be  very  fa- 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  91 

miliar.  Tiie  prophecies  of  Isaiah  and  Daniel,  are  more  plain 
than  the  most  of  the  others.  What  relates  to  the  Mosaick  ri- 
tual, though  certainly  not  to  be  neglected,  will  not  claim  as 
frequent  a  perusal  as  the  other  parts  of  scripture.  I  recom- 
mend an  abundant  reading  of  the  sacred  text,  without  note  or 
comment.  Yet  commentators  are  useful,  and  their  labours 
ought  not  to  be  undervalued.  The  prophecies,  and  some 
other  portions  of  scripture,  cannot  be  understood  fully,  with- 
out their  aid ; — and  their  practical  remarks  are  often  highly 
excellent.  For  popular  reading,  the  commentaries  of  Henry, 
Scott,  Guise,  Doddridge,  Burkitt,  and  Home,  are,  in  my  opi- 
nion, the  best  in  our  language. 

3.  You  may  learn  from  the  statement  you  have  heard,  to 
guard  against  the  evil  of  separating,  in  religion,  what  God 
hath  joined  together.  This  is  an  evil  of  very  extensive,  and 
very  pernicious  influence.  I  have  shown  you  that  truth  is  in 
order  to  goodness; — and  that  truth  and  duty  cannot  be  sepa- 
rated. In  the  same  manner,  it  is  impossible  to  separate  faith 
and  good  works;  genuine  morality  and  true  religion;  or  the 
use  of  means  and  the  blessing  that  comes  from  God  alone. 
The  attempt  is  often  made  to  separate  these  things  in  prac- 
tice, but  a  real  separation  is  utterly  impracticable.  They 
are  indissolubly  united  by  the  Divine  appointment.  Never 
therefore,  attempt  to  disunite  them.  Let  it  be  your  ob- 
ject to  avoid  error,  not  only  that  your  speculations  may 
be  correct,  but  that  knowing  the  truth,  you  may  reduce  it 
to  practice.  Let  a  lively  faith  in  Christ,  as  the  ground  of 
your  justification,  be  evinced  to  be  sincere,  by  every  good 
word  and  work  that  can  adorn  religion,  honour  God,  or  do 
good  to  mankind.  Never  imagine  that  there  can  be  any  reli- 
gion that  will  save  the  soul,  without  good  morals ;  nor  that 
good  morals  without  unfeigned  piety  will  render  you  a  whit 
safer.  Use  all  the  means  of  God's  appointment  diligently  and 
faithfully,  and  yet  look  to  him,  and  depend  on  him,  at  every 
step,  for  his  grace  and  blessing  to  render  them  effectual. 
Here  is  the  true  gospel  system ;  and  every  thing  contrary  to 
it,  is  unquestionably  erroneous  and  delusive. 


92  LECTURES  ON  THE 

4.  Finally — From  the  whole  that  you  have  heard  on  this 
subject,  let  me  earnestly  inculcate  the  importance  of  practical 
piety.  After  all  that  can  be  said,  or  taught,  there  is  no  full 
security  against  running  into  the  most  ruinous  errors,  except 
in  real,  experimental,  heart  religion.  The  human  heart  is  de- 
praved throughout,  in  its  natural  state;  it  is  "  deceitful  above 
all  li  ings,  and  desperately  wicked."  It  is  therefore  in  na- 
tural alliance  with  all  those  principles  which  will  admit  of  sin- 
ful indul2;ence;  and  is  hostile  to  those  which  forbid  that  indul- 
gence: And  one  error  in  principle  and  practice,  may  lead  on 
to  another,  till  every  extreme  of  impiety  is  reached.  But 
when  the  heart  is  renewed  and  sanctified,  this  dreadful  bias  of 
corrupt  nature  is  corrected  and  changed.  The  love  of  holi- 
ness is  implanted,  which  is  always  connected  with  a  supreme 
love  of  truth  and  duty.  And  above  all,  the  soul  is  committed, 
for  its  safe  keeping,  to  Him  who  will  assuredly  "keep  that 
which  is  committed  to  him.''  Here,  then,  is  the  only  abso- 
lute protection  against  those  errors  that  destroy  the  soul. 
Seek,  therefore,  with  the  utmost  engagedness,  the  renewing 
grace  of  God  ;  and  give  yourselves  no  contentment,  till  you 
have  obtained  this  "  pearl  of  great  price." 


LECTURE  VI. 

What  is  God? 

The  fourth  answer  of  our  catechism  is  thus  expressed — 
"  God  is  a  Spirit,  infinite,  eternal  and  unchangeable,  in  his 
being,  wisdom,  power,  holiness,  justice,  goodness  and  truth." 

We  have  seen  that  our  catechism  was  intended  to  be  mere- 
ly a  summary  of  revealed  truth,  and  no  farther  to  notice  sub- 
jects of  natural  religion  than  as  they  are  referred  to  in  sacred 
scripture.  Had  not  their  plan  been  thus  limited,  the  authors 
of  the  catechism  would  no  doubt  have  made  the  subject  of  the 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  93 

answer  before  us  the  first  in  the  system ;  since  the  being  and 
perfections  of  God  must  manifestly  lie  at  the  foundation  of  all 
reliction.  But  as  a  revelation  from  God  necessarily  implies 
his  existence,  so  that  existence  is  taken  for  granted,  not  only 
in  this  catechism  but  in  the  scriptures  themselves.  There  is 
no  elaborate  argument  in  the  Bible  to  prove  the  being  of  a 
God,  although  we  there  find  a  reference  incidentally  to  the 
very  best  evidence  by  which  his  existence  is  evinced  ;  and  it 
is  from  revelation  alone  that  we  obtain  a  correct  and  just 
knowledge  of  the  divine  perfections.  It  is  an  undeniable  fact, 
that  although  the  belief  of  a  great  first  cause  has  been  nearly 
universal  in  the  world,  through  all  ages,  yet  without  revela- 
tion, men  have  never  had  consistent  and  adequate  conceptions 
of  the  divine  character.  A  few  of  the  heathen  philosophers 
did,  indeed,  form  and  express  some  noble  and  just  notions  of 
the  Supreme  Being;  yet  in  other  particulars  they  were,  in  re- 
gard to  the  Deity,  grossly  ignorant  or  erroneous :  and  what- 
ever was  their  knowledge,  it  was  pretty  much  confined  to 
themselves  and  to  a  few  disciples — "  The  world  by  wisdom 
knew  not  God." 

But  notwithstanding  the  catechism  is  silent  on  this  subject, 
I  have  thought  it  right  to  give  you  a  short  and  summary 
view  of  the  evidence  or  proof  of  the  being  of  God,  as  it  is 
stated  in  the  systems  of  natural  religion.  In  doing  this  some 
of  the  divine  attributes  will  of  course  be  mentioned;  but  we 
shall  not  dwell  upon  them,  till  we  come  to  consider  them  as 
made  known  by  revelation,  as  well  as  by  reason. 

The  proof  of  the  being  of  God  rests  ultimately  on  this  prin- 
ciple, that  there  can  he  no  effect  without  a  cause.  That 
every  efiect  must  have  an  adequate  cause,  must  be  taken  as 
an  axiom ;  that  is,  a  principle  so  obvious  that  it  does  not  ad- 
mit of  proof.  Without  axioms,  or  self-evident  principles,  we 
can  never  reason  conclusively  at  all ;  because  all  sound  rea- 
soning must  begin,  or  terminate,  in  what  is  self-evident.  Mr. 
Hume,  who  seemed  to  delight  in  trying  to  make  the  human 
understanding  confound  or  subvert  itself,  has  endeavoured  to 
v^reaken  our  belief  in  the  connexion  between  cause  and  ef- 


94  LECTURES  ON  THE 

feet;*  but  his  sophistry  has  been  exposed  and  confuted,  in  the 
most  satisfactory  manner. 

It  is  usual  to  state  two  methods  of  proving  the  being  of  a 
God  from  reason;  both  of  which  however,  rest  equally  on 
the  principle  that  every  effect  must  have  an  adequate  cause. 
The  first  of  these  trains  of  reasoning  is  called  the  method  a 
priori;  the  second  the  method  a  posteriori. 

The  method  a  priori  is  a  process  of  reasoning  from  your- 
self to  your  Creator.  By  consciousness  you  establish  your 
own  existence.  That  existence  must  have  a  cause.  Where 
do  you  find  it?  Did  you  create  yourself?  Nothing  can  be 
more  absurd  than  self-creation — it  implies  action  before  the 
existence  of  that  which  acts.  You  derived  your  being  from 
others.  Your  parents  must  say  the  same:  and  carry  it  on  as 
many  generations  as  you  choose,  the  last  must  say  the  same 
as  the  first.     In  this  process  you  must  at  length  arrive  at  a 


*  The  late  Dr.  Thomas  BrowNj  of  Edinburgh,  in  his  "Inquiry  into  the  Re- 
lation of  Cause  and  Effect,"  maintains  with  Mr.  Hume,  that  what  we  denomi- 
nate causes  and  effects,  are  only  series  of  antecedents  and  sequences,  having 
no  other  connexion  than  that  the  former  have  always  been  followed  by  the 
latter.  He  is  however  so  far  from  agreeing  with  Mr.  Hume  in  the  sceptical 
and  infidel  consequences  derived  from  this  doctrine,  that  he  most  completely 
subverts  the  whole  sceptical  system,  and  even  exposes  it  to  ridicule,  on  the 
very  principles  from  which  Mr.  Hume  derived  it.  We  mean  not,  however,  to 
express  our  belief  in  Dr.  Brown's  philosophical  theory.  We  very  seriously 
doubt  whether  it  will  stand  the  test  of  a  full  and  fair  examination,  when 
time  shall  have  been  afforded  to  scrutinize  it  thoroughly,  to  observe  its  conse- 
quences, and  to  weigh  the  objections  of  its  opposers. 

Dr.  Beattie's  method  of  disposing  of  Mr.  Hume's  sophistry  seems  to  be  en- 
tirely satisfactory.  It  may  be  seen  in  his  own  language,  at  the  beginning  of 
the  5th  section  of  his  "  Essay  on  Truth."  We  shall  make  use  of  his  leading 
ideas,  and  accommodate  them  to  our  purpose  thus — I  leave  my  study  for  an 
hour,  and  on  my  return  I  find  on  my  table  a  book,  which  I  know  was  not 
there  when  I  went  out,  and  of  which  I  had  never  heard  before.  I  make  every 
possible  investigation  and  inquiry,  with  a  view  to  discover  how  the  book  came 
to  be  where  I  found  it.  All  is  fruitless — I  had  locked  the  door  and  taken  the 
key  with  me,  and  a  faithful  servant  assures  me  that  he  has  had  his  eye  on  my 
study  door  the  whole  time  of  my  absence.  The  chimney,  and  windows,  and 
walls,  have  been  examined,  and  it  is  manifest  that  no  one  has  entered  or  de- 
parted by  them.  The  whole  affair  is  mysterious  and  unaccountable,  and  1  am 
left  in  utter  perplexity. — Now  does  it  ever  occur  to  me  that  the  book  came  to 
be  in  the  place  where  I  found  it  without  any  cause  ?  Suppose  this  to  be  sug- 
gested, can  I,  by  any  possible  effort  of  my  mind,  believe  it.''  No  assuredly. — 
The  belief  that  every  effect  has  an  adequate  cause  is  an  intuitive  or  self-evi- 
dent truth,  which  in  every  sane  mind,  is  invincible.  It  is  always  taken  for 
granted — We  beheve  that  infidelity  itself  never  thought  that  the  sacred  writer 
needed  to  prove  any  premises  when  he  said — "  every  house  is  builded  by  some 
man" — but  this  is  iR  no  respect  clearer  than  what  immediately  follows,  and  yet 
has  often  been  denied — "  he  that  built  all  things  is  God." 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  95 

great  first  cause  of  all,  which  we  call  God:  for  an  eternal 
succession  of  dependent  causes  will  be  found  an  absurdity — 
It  is  only  an  attempt  to  remove  the  first  cause  out  of  sight. 
Suppose — to  use  the  illustration  of  a  celebrated  writer — sup- 
pose a  chain  was  seen  hanging  from  the  heavens,  and  extend- 
ing upward  beyond  your  sight.  Would  it  be  satisfactory  to 
say  that  the  first  link  of  this  chain  hung  on  the  second,  the 
second  on  the  third,  and  so  on  ad  infinitum?  Would  you 
not  ask  what  holds  up  the  whole  ?  A  chain  often  links  would 
require  a  certain  power  to  uphold  it,  a  chain  of  twenty  links 
double  that  power,  and  an  infinite  chain  an  infinite  power. 
In  a  word,  if  the  parts  taken  separately  cannot  support  them- 
selves, the  whole,  which  is  only  the  parts  taken  collectively, 
cannot  support  itself  And  the  longer  you  make  the  chain, 
the  greater  must  be  the  power  by  which  it  is  upheld — an  in- 
finite chain  will  require  infinite  power — a  power  not  in  the 
chain,  but  out  of  it.  It  is  exactly  the  same  with  the  several 
generations,  or,  if  you  will,  links  of  the  human  race.  They 
must  be  traced  to  a  great  first  cause  out  of  themselves,  on 
which  they  all  depend — That  cause  is  God  :  He  must  be 
considered  as  self-existent,  and  perfect,  or  infinite,  in  all  his 
attributes.  "  That" — says  Dr.  Doddridge — "  is  said  to  be  a 
self-existent  or  necessarily  existent  being,  which  does  not  owe 
its  existence  to  any  other  being  whatsoever,  either  as  its  cause 
or  its  support;  but  would  exist  and  be  what  it  is,  were  there 
no  other  being  in  the  whole  compass  of  nature  but  itself" 

It  seems  proper  that  1  should  briefly  mention  here,  that 
there  have  been  some  speculative  men  in  every  age,  and  that 
among  these  we  are  to  reckon  (if  I  understand  their  system) 
the  most,  if  not  all,  of  the  professed  atheists  that  have  appear- 
ed in  our  own  day,  who  have  maintained  that  the  universe, 
as  we  now  find  it,  is  eternal;  and  that  we  ought  not  to  be- 
lieve that  there  is  any  such  being  as  is  usually  called  God.  In 
regard  to  this  system  of  atheism  let  it  be  remarked  and  re- 
membered, that  in  much  the  same  way  in  which  it  has  been 
shown  that  a  chain  of  infinite  links  cannot  support  itself,  it 
may  be  conclusively  shown  that  any  thing  else  made  up  of 


96  LECTURES  ON  THE 

parts,  dependent  on  each  other,  and  in  their  nature  mutable 
and  imperfect,  cannot  be  eternal.  But  the  universe  is  un- 
questionably made  up  of  parts,  all  of  which  are  dependent, 
mutable  and  imperfect,  and  therefore  it  cannot  be  eternal. — 
Let  it  farther  be  remarked,  that  the  indirect  method  of  proof, 
or  that  which  is  called  reductio  ad  absurdum,  is  held,  even 
in  mathematical  demonstrations,  to  be  as  conclusive  and  satis- 
factory as  direct  proof.  Now  it  is  apparent,  that  every  sup- 
position of  the  origin  and  existence  of  the  universe  may  be  re- 
duced to  a  perfect  absurdity,  that  alone  excepted  which  repre- 
sents it  as  the  production  of  a  self-existent  perfect  being — in- 
finite in  all  his  attributes.  The  belief  therefore  of  such  a 
being — such  a  first  cause  of  all  other  beings — is  demonstrably 
rational  and  incumbent  on  us  — For,  we  repeat,  other  beings 
must  have  a  cause  of  existence  out  of  themselves,  and  here 
alone  we  find  it.  We  readily  admit  that  the  eternity,  and 
self-existence,  and  perfections  of  God,  entirely  exceed  the 
grasp  of  the  human  mind.  But  there  is  no  absurdity  in  be- 
lieving the  existence  of  what  we  cannot  fully  comprehend  ; — 
we  do  it  continually,  and  must  do  it,  in  a  thousand  instances. 
On  the  whole  then,  by  believing  that  the  universe  is  the  work 
of  an  infinitely  perfect  Being,  we  have  a  rational  account  of 
its  existence;  while  every  other  account  is  completely  irra- 
tional and  absurd. 

In  what  has  last  been  said  I  have  considerably  anticipated 
the  second  method  of  proving  the  existence  of  God,  which  is 
denominated  a  posteriori.  This  is  properly  and  professedly 
a  philosophical  induction  from  the  visible  universe.  You  look 
around  you,  and  on  every  hand  you  see  the  undeniable  proofs 
of  Almighty  power,  infinite  wisdom,  and  unspeakable  good- 
ness. You  ask  for  the  author  and  origin  of  these.  You  are 
unable  to  find  them  in  the  things  themselves— all  say  they  are 
not  in  us.  You  must  therefore,  and  you  do,  refer  them  to  an 
infinitely  powerful,  wise  and  good  first  cause — and  this  cause 
is  God. 

There  seems  not  to  be  any  real  ground  of  distinction  be- 
tween these  two  methods   of  proof,  except  it  be  that  the 


SHORTER   CATECHISM.  97 

former  is  more  abstract,  and  the  latter  more  plain  and  popu- 
lar. Yet  the  distinction  has  long  been  made,  and  till  of  late 
generally  considered  as  just;  and  I  therefore  thou2;ht  it  pro- 
per to  state  both  methods,  and  to  show  how,  in  each,  the  rea- 
soning process  is  carried  on.  But  if  you  examine  the  subject 
closely  you  will  perceive,  not  only  that  both  depend,  as  al- 
ready intimated,  on  a  common  principle  or  axiom,  but  that 
both  also  begin  and  proceed  in  the  same  train.  The  first,  in- 
deed, sets  out  with  establishing  our  own  existence  from  con- 
sciousness, and  the  second  by  establishing  the  existence  of  the 
material  world  by  the  external  senses.  But  both  reason  im- 
mediately /rom  the  creature  to  the  Creator. 

Of  these  two  methods  of  proof,  or  two  ways  rather  of  ad- 
ducing the  proof  of  the  being  of  a  God,  I  decisively  prefer  the 
latter,  and  recommend  that  you  always  adopt  it,  in  thinking 
and  reasoning  on  this  subject.  It  is  really  accompanied  with 
no  difficulty  or  obscurity  whatever.  We  can  scarcely  open 
our  eyes  on  the  material  world,  without  being  struck  at  once, 
with  the  ineffable  wisdom,  power  and  benignity,  which  are 
every  where  apparent  in  the  works  of  creation  and  Provi- 
dence ;  and  of  perceiving  that  they  point  us  to  the  Great 
Creator  as  the  source  from  which  they  all  proceed.  Accord- 
ingly we  find,  that  to  these  objects  the  sacred  scriptures  direct 
our  attention,  and  represent  the  visible  universe  as  proclaim- 
ing a  God,  in  language  which  the  whole  human  race  may  un- 
derstand. "The  heavens  declare  the  glory  of  God,  and  the 
firmament  sheweth  his  handy  work.  Day  unto  day  uttereth 
speech,  and  night  unto  niji;ht  sheweth  knowledge.  There  is 
no  speech  or  language  where  their  voice  is  not  heard.  Their 
line  is  gone  out  through  all  the  earth,  and  their  words  to  the 
end  of  the  world."  Truly,  my  young  friends,  wherever  we 
turn  our  eyes,  whether  to  the  heavens,  to  the  earth,  or  to  our- 
selves, we  see  so  many  striking  proofs  of  the  existence  and 
perfections  of  God,  that  we  may  well  wonder  that  the  human 
being  should  ever  have  existed  who  denied  his  Maker's  exist- 
ence. Some,  indeed,  have  questioned  whether  there  ever 
was  really  and  truly  a  speculative  Atheist — I  say  a  specula- 


98  LECTURES  ON  THE 

tive  atheist,  because  there  can  be  no  question  that  the  number 
is  great  indeed  of  those  who  "live  without  God  in  the 
world  ;"  who,  with  the  fool  mentioned  by  the  Psalmist,  "say- 
in  their  heart,  there  is  no  God,"  that  is,  who  wish  there  were 
none;  and  live  with  as  little  reejard  to  his  laws  and  his  dis- 
pleasure, as  if  they  deliberately  disbelieved  his  existence. 
But  these  practical  Rihe'ists,  seldom  reason  or  think  on  this 
subject  at  all;  and  indeed  are  commonly  among  the  most 
thoughtless  of  men,  in  regard  to  all  moral  subjects.  Yet 
there  have  been  a  few  in  almost  every  age,  and  perhaps  in 
none  more  than  in  our  own,  especially  in  France,  who  have 
avowed  themselves  atheists  upon  conviction.  We  are  even 
told  of  two  or  three  instances  in  which  men  have  died  mar- 
tyrs to  atheism.  Still  it  has  been  seriously  doubted  whether, 
among  them  all,  there  has  been  any  real  conviction  of  the  un- 
derstanding in  favour  of  atheism  ;  or  any  thing  more  than  the 
love  of  singularity,  a  desire  to  set  aside  moral  obligation,  or  a 
proud  obstinacy  in  defending  and  abiding  by  opinions,  taken 
up  without  examination  and  hastily  promulged.  But  when 
we  read  in  scripture  of  some  who  "are  given  over  to  strong 
delusions  to  believe  a  lie,"  it  will  not  appear  incredible,  that 
there  may  be  some  speculative  atheists;  and  that  they  will 
quite  as  probably  be  found  among  men  of  science,  who  have 
grossly  abused  the  advantages  of  intellect  and  knowledge  with 
which  God  had  favoured  them,  as  among  any  other  class  of 
men.  Still  it  is  true,  that  such  men  are  always,  and  justly, 
considered  as  moral  monsters;  and  really  seem  as  if  they  were 
affected  by  that  species  of  insanity  which  completely  perverts 
intellect  in  regard  to  one  particular  subject,  while  the  powers 
of  the  mind  remain  unimpaired,  perhaps  uncommonly  vigor- 
ous, in  regard  to  almost  every  thing  beside. 

On  this  part  of  our  subject  I  shall  only  further  remark,  that 
it  has  often  been  mentioned  as  an  evidence  of  the  being  of 
God,  that  all  nations  in  all  parts  of  the  world  have  been  im- 
pressed with  the  belief  of  some  great  first  cause  of  all  things; 
and  that  our  Larger  Catechism  teaches,  that  "the  very  light  of 
nature  in  man,  and  the  works  of  God,  declare  plainly  that 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  99 

there  is  a  God/^  Mr.  Locke,  however,  in  combating  the 
doctrine  of  innate  ideas,  contends  pretty  strenuously,  but  to 
my  apprehension  not  successfully,  that  we  have  sufficient  rea- 
son to  believe  that  there  have  been  some  portions  of  the  hu- 
man family,  among  which  no  impression,  or  conception  what- 
ever, of  a  Supreme  Being  was  to  be  found.  But  granting  the 
fact  to  be  exactly  as  he  states  it,  still  it  is  to  be  observed  that 
he  admits  these  people  to  have  been  among  the  most  ignorant 
and  debased  of  human  beings;  and  certainly  they  were  a  very 
inconsiderable  portion  of  our  species.  Now  it  is  not  easy  to 
say  how  far  the  mental  powers  may  be  oppressed  and  ob- 
structed in  their  natural  operations,  by  ignorance  and  priva- 
tion— Probably  it  may  be  to  such  a  degree  that  man,  while  he 
continues  in  this  unusually  degraded  state,  may  not  be  able  to 
develope  powers  which  he  really  possesses,  but  remain,  as  it 
were,  in  a  state  of  perpetual  infancy.  On  the  whole,  there 
seems  to  be  no  rational  way  of  accounting  for  the  universal 
belief  of  a  Supreme  Being,  or  great  first  cause  of  all  things, 
but  by  saying  that  it  is  either  an  instinctive  principle  of  our 
nature,  or  that  it  is  so  easily  derived  from  the  visible  universe 
that  all  acquire  it;  or  else  that  it  has  been  produced  by  an 
early  tradition,  which  has  been  as  extensive  as  our  race. 

We  come  now  to  speak  of  the  attributes  of  God ;  by  which 
we  understand  those  perfections  of  his  nature  by  which  He 
manifests  himself  to  his  intelligent  creatures,  and  by  which  he 
is  distinguished  from  them.  We  are  not  to  conceive  of  these 
attributes,  or  perfections,  as  really  separable  from  each  other, 
or  from  the  Deity  himself.  They  are  distinguished  from  each 
other,  only  as  to  their  objects,  their  effects,  and  the  method 
of  our  conceiving  of  them  :  and  although  essence  and  attri- 
butes are  distinguishable,  yet  we  can  know  nothing  of  the 
Deity  but  by  his  attributes. 

The  Divine  perfections  have  been  divided,  or  classed,  in  a 
variety  of  ways,  which  I  shall  not  even  specify.  Indeed  some 
of  these  divisions  appear  to  me  not  only  useless,  but  rather 
improper.  There  are  two  methods  of  classification  however, 
which  I  think  it  may  be  useful  to  mention,  and  very  briefly 


100  LECTURES  ON  THE 

explain — The  first  is  the  division  of  the  perfections  of  God 
into  natural  and  moral — the  second,  into  communicable  and 
incommunicable. 

The  natural  attributes  of  the  Deity  are  spirituality,  im- 
mensity, wisdom,  and  power.  They  are  called  natural,  be- 
cause they  do  not  necessarily,  or  in  themselves,  imply  any 
moral  quality.  It  would  indeed  be  impious  to  suppose  that 
these  attributes  could  possibly  exist  in  the  Supreme  Being, 
unconnected  with  others  which  are  moral.  Yet  in  these, 
taken  separately,  the  moral  character  of  any  being  does  not 
consist:  and  in  inferior  beings  we  often  see  great  intellectual 
energy  without  correspondent  goodness,  and  high  moral  ex- 
cellence, without  an  equal  degree  of  powerful  intellect. 

The  moral  attributes  of  the  Deity  are  holiness,  justice, 
goodness  and  truth. 

The  communicable  attributes  of  God  are  being,  wisdom, 
power,  holiness,  justice,  goodness  and  truth.  They  are  call- 
ed communicable,  because  some  resemblance  of  them  is  found 
among  the  creatures,  especially  in  angels  and  men.  Yet  in 
the  creatures,  when  compared  with  the  Creator,  they  are  but 
as  twinkling  rays  in  comparison  with  the  sun. 

Of  incommunicable  attributes,  some  divines  reckon  five. 
Independence  or  self -existence,  simplicity  or  unity  of 
essence,  immutability,  eternity  and  im,mensity.  Others 
reckon  only  three — infinity,  eternity  and  unchangeable- 
ness.  This  difference  is  scarcely  more  than  nominal;  as  those 
who  specify  the  latter  number,  include  some  of  the  former  in 
those  which  they  mention.  These  are  called  incommunica- 
ble attributes,  because  no  resemblance  of  them  whatever  is 
found  among  creatures;  nor  does  it  belong  to  the  nature  of  a 
creature  to  possess  any  one  of  them.  They  belong,  and  can 
belong,  only  to  God,  the  infinite  fountain  of  all  being  and  ex- 
cellence. 

But  although  I  have  noticed  these  distinctions  between  the 
natural  and  moral,  and  between  the  communicable  and  incom- 
municable attributes  of  the  Deity,  because  they  seem  to  be 
well  founded,  and  serve  to  give  us  just  conceptions  of  the  Su- 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  101 

preme  Being,  and  must  occasionally  be  called  into  view,  yet 
it  is  not  my  purpose  to  prosecute  the  discussion  with  any  di- 
rect reference  to  these  classifications.  If  you  look  at  the  an- 
swer in  the  catechism  which  we  are  now  considering,  you 
will  perceive  that  it  enumerates  all  the  divine  attributes  that 
have  been  named,  only  in  somewhat  of  a  different  order.  I 
shall  therefore,  in  the  remainder  of  the  discussion,  follow  the 
enumeration  and  the  order  which  the  answer  exhibits.  On 
some  of  the  divine  perfections  I  shall  dilate  more  than  upon 
others;  but  on  all  I  must  be  short  and  summary — Each  of 
them  is  more  than  sufficient  to  furnish  the  subject  of  a  long 
discourse. 

The  answer  before  us  begins  with  stating  that  "  God  is  a 
spirit."  There  have  been  some  who  have  denied  that  we  can 
form  any  distinct  and  rational  idea  of  a  spirit;  and  some 
young  persons,  I  know,  have  been  sadly  perplexed  and  be- 
wildered, from  not  understanding  how  to  conduct  their 
thoughts  and  inquiries  in  regard  to  this  subject.  I  will  there- 
fore endeavour  very  briefly  to  explain  it ;  making  use  of  the 
general  reasoning  of  Mr.  Locke,  without  adopting  hjs  method 
or  using  his  language. 

You  will  observe  and  remember  then,  that  we  form  our 
idea  of  spirit,  in  the  very  same  manner  in  which  we  form 
our  idea  of  matter.  We  know  nothing  of  either,  but  by 
their  properties  or  attributes;  and  by  these  we  know  as 
much  of  spirit  as  we  do  of  matter.  To  illustrate  this,  I  take 
a  stone;  and  my  senses  inform  me  that  it  is  hard,  and  extend- 
ed, and  coloured.  But  hardness,  extension,  and  colour,  are 
not  matter,  but  merely,  as  the  terms  import,  the  properties  or 
attributes  of  matter.  Neither  can  you  show  me,  nor  tell  me, 
what  the  matter  of  the  stone  is,  separately  from  its  properties 
or  attributes — further  than  that  there  must  be  something^ — a 
substratum,  philosophers  call  it — to  which  all  these  belong. 
Of  matter,  then  it  is  plain  you  know  nothing  besides  its  at- 
tributes, except  that  it  exists.  Now  you  may  perceive  at 
once,  that  you  know  exactly  as  much  as  this  of  spirit — and 
we  admit  that  you  can  know  no  more.     You  are  every  whit 


102  LECTURES    ON  THE 

as  certain-  that  you  think,  choose,  and  refuse,  as  you  are  that 
the  stone  is  hard,  extended,  and  coloured.  Thinkino;,  choos- 
ing, and  refusinoj,  are  not  indeed  spirit  itself,  but  the  acts  or 
attributes  of  spirit.  We  grant  too,  that  we  cannot  tell  what 
spirit  is,  separately  from  these  acts  or  attributes — further 
than  that  there  must  be  something — an  immaterial  sub- 
stance it  is  often  called — to  which  all  these  belong.  But  of 
this  immaterial  substance,  we  affirm  that  we  are  not  more  ig- 
norant, than  of  the  material  substance  called  matter.  Our  ig- 
norance, and  our  knowledge  of  both,  are  exactly  similar  and 
equal.  We  can  define  neither  matter  nor  spirit,  except  by 
their  several  attributes;  and  by  these  we  can  define  and  con- 
ceive of  both  equally  well.  If  any  body  will  tell  me  what 
matter  is,  exclusively  of  its  being  hard,  extended  and  colour- 
ed, I  will  tell  him  what  spirit  is,  exclusively  of  its  thinking, 
choosing  and  refusing.  If  he  cannot  do  the  former,  he  ought 
not  to  require  me  to  do  the  latter;  and  if  he  believes  in  the 
existence  of  matter,  when  it  is  known  only  by  its  attributes, 
he  ought  to  believe  in  spirit  which  is  known  precisely  in  the 
same  way.  Yes,  my  young  friends,  we  have  as  much  know- 
ledge of  mind  as  we  have  of  matter — we  are  no  more  igno- 
rant of  a  spiritual  than  of  a  material  substance.  Spirit  is 
that  which  thinks,  which  reasons,  which  judges,  which  deli- 
berately approves  or  disapproves.  These  certainly  are  not 
among  the  known  properties  of  matter,  let  materialists  rea- 
son as  they  may;  but  they  are  the  known  and  acknow- 
ledged properties  of  what  we  denominate  mind  or  spirit. 

Now,  in  regard  to  our  Creator — in  speaking  of  whom  we 
ought  ever  to  be  filled  with  the  profoundest  reverence — when 
we  say  that  he  is  a  Spirit,  we  do  not  presume  to  say  that  his 
essence  is  of  the  same  nature  with  that  of  our  own  minds,  or 
even  with  that  of  angelick  minds.  It  may  be  greatly  differ- 
ent from  that  of  any  created  spirit;  as  we  know  that  he  is  in 
all  respects  infinitely  superior  to  the  highest  orders  of  his 
creatures.  Still  we  do  say,  and  are  warranted  by  his  revela- 
tion to  say,  that  '^  God  is  a  spirit."  He  is  infinitely  intelli- 
gent, as  well  as  the  source  of  all  intelligence  to  every  creature 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  103 

possessing  the  powers  of  intellect — God  is  not  matter  but  the 
purest  of  spirits. 

You  will  observe  that  the  answer  under  consideration,  after 
teaching  us  that  God  is  a  Spirit,  goes  on  to  state,  that  both  in 
his  being  and  in  all  the  attributes  afterwards  enunnerated,  he 
is  infinite,  eternal  and  unchangeable — these  terms  are  to  be 
connected  with  each  of  the  words  which  follows  them  in  the 
answer. 

2.  God  is  infinite  in  his  Being.  The  infinitude  of  the 
being  of  God  is  often  called  his  omnipresence,  and  sometimes 
his  immensity,  and  it  is  closely  connected  with  his  omnis- 
cience. He  is  present  in  every  part  of  his  wide  dominions; 
so  that  no  point  can  be  assumed  or  imagined  in  unlimited 
space,  of  which  it  can  be  said  that  God  is  not  there.  He  is 
there  in  the  strictest  sense ;  there  by  Wi^  essential  presence, 
as  well  as  by  his  perfect  knowledge  of  whatever  else  is  there. 
This  is  inimitably  described  in  the  139th  Psalm — "Whither 
shall  I  go  from  thy  Spirit?  or  whither  shall  I  flee  from  thy 
presence?  If  1  ascend  up  into  heaven,  thou  art  there;  if  I 
make  my  bed  in  hell,  behold  thou  art  there ;  if  I  take  the 
wings  of  the  morning  and  dwell  in  the  uttermost  parts  of  the 
sea;  even  there  shall  thy  hand  lead  me,  and  thy  right  hand 
shall  hold  me.  If  1  say,  surely  the  darkness  shall  cover  me; 
even  the  night  shall  be  light  about  me :  yea,  the  darkness 
hideth  not  from  thee;  but  the  night  shineth  as  the  day:  the 
darkness  and  the  light  are  both  alike  to  thee/' 

The  Deity  being  thus  every  where  present,  not  only  sur- 
rounding and  embracing,  but  most  intimately  pervading 
every  created  being,  perfectly  knows  all  things — His  omnis- 
cience, as  it  relates  to  a  knowledge  of  all  that  passes  in  the 
universe,  is,  as  already  intimated,  closely  connected  with  his 
immensity  or  ubiquity.  No  occurrence,  no  change,  can  pos- 
sibly take  place  in  creation  unperceived  by  him.  Nay,  not 
only  all  visible  events,  but  all  the  most  secret  thoughts  and  de- 
signs of  his  intelligent  creatures,  whether  good  or  bad,  the 
moment  they  are  formed,  are  more  perfectly  known  to  him 
than  to  the  creatures  who  form  them.     "  The  Lord  searcheth 


104  LECTURES  ON  THE 

all  hearts,  and  understandeth  all  the  imaginations  of  the 
thoughts — I  am  he  that  searcheth  the  reins  and  hearts." 

The  omnipresence  or  infinite  being  of  God,  is  also  connect- 
ed with  his  providential  care,  preservation,  and  perfect  con- 
trol and  government,  of  all  the  works  of  his  hands.  As  they 
all  exist  in  him,  and  are  upheld  by  him,  they  cannot  act  but 
by  his  permission.  He  limits  and  bounds  all  their  actions; 
he  directs  and  orders  all  things  according  to  his  good  pleasurej 
and  "  he  openeth  his  hand  and  satisfieth  the  desires  of  every 
living  thing." 

The  incomprehensibility  of  God  by  his  creatures,  follows 
necessarily  from  his  infinity.  He  is  fully  known  only  to 
Himself.  A  finite  being  cannot  comprehend  that  which  is  in- 
finite. "  Who  by  searching  can  find  out  God,  who  can  find 
out  the  Almighty  to  perfection? — Such  knowledge  is  too 
wonderful  for  me,  it  is  high,  I  cannot  attain  unto  it,"  The 
most  enlarged  capacity  of  men  or  of  angels,  will  never  be  able 
fully  to  understand  the  being  or  the  perfections  of  God. 
Hence  their  capacities  may  be,  and  it  seems  probable  to  me 
that  they  will  be,  forever  enlarging,  and  rendering  them 
more  noble,  and  such  of  them  as  are  holy,  more  happy  ;  and 
yet,  although  this  be  so,  there  will  forever  remain  an  infinite 
distance  between  them  and  their  Creator. 

3.  God  is  eternal.  He  exists  from  eternity  to  eternity. 
There  is  an  eternity  which  is  past,  and  an  eternity  which  is 
to  come — an  eternity  before  time  began,  and  an  eternity 
when  time  shall  be  no  more.  Time  is  measured  by  a  con- 
stant succession  of  its  parts  or  portions;  and  every  moment  as 
it  passes  is  taken  from  the  eternit}-  to  come,  and  added  to  the 
eternity  which  is  passed.  Suppose  a  line  strictly  infinite, 
that  is,  without  beginning  or  end.  This  may  represent  the 
whole  of  eternity.  Suppose  a  point  taken  in  this  line,  and 
moved  forward  a  very  small  distance,  say  an  inch,  and  there 
terminated.  This  small  distance  on  the  infinite  line,  may  re- 
present time.  The  Divine  existence  is  commensurate  with  the 
whole  line.  But  all  the  events  of  time,  from  the  formation 
to  the  dissolution  of  the  universe,  lie  within  the  measured 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  105 

inch:  and  as  there  is  no  proportion  between  this  inch  and  the 
whole  line,  inasmuch  as  there  can  be  no  proportion  between 
that  which  is  finite  and  that  which  is  infinite,  so  there  is  no 
proportion  whatever  between  time  and  eternity.  In  the  Di- 
vine existence,  represented  by  the  whole  line,  there  is  no  suc- 
cession or  progression  of  parts;  fi)r  the  supposition  is  that  it 
is  complete  at  once,  and  without  beg;inning  or  end.  Hence  it 
has  been  said  with  truth,  that  -the  existence  of  the  Supreme 
Being  is  one  eternal  now.  We  conceive  of  Him  as  having 
existed  an  endless  duration,  before  the  point  was  assumed 
from  which  the  inch  of  time  begins.  Through  this  whole 
duration  he  existed  without  creatures — perfectly  happy  in 
himself  alone.  Men  and  angels  will  exist  through  an  endless 
duration,  represented  by  the  line  which  goes  forward  from 
the  termination  of  the  measured  inch:  that  is,  their  future  ex- 
istence, awful  thought !  will  be  commensurate  with  the  exist- 
ence of  God.  But  you  will  be  careful  to  observe,  that  this 
eternal  y?/^wre  existence  of  intelligent  creatures  is  not  a  tie- 
cessary  existence,  like  that  of  the  Creator — It  depends  en- 
tirely on  his  will  and  appointment.  He  could  terminate  it  in 
a  moment,  if  such  were  his  pleasure;  but  it  will  continue 
eternally,  because  it  is  his  unchanging  determination  that  it 
shall  so  continue.  But  his  existence,  from-eternity  to  eterni- 
ty, is  from  his  very  nature — It  is  a  necessary  indestructible 
existence. 

Here,  again,  my  dear  youth,  we  have  another  view  of  the 
incomprehensible  nature  of  God.  I  have  endeavoured  to  give 
your  thoughts  a  right  direction  for  meditating  on  the  subject, 
and  to  illustrate  it  a  little.  But  eternal  duration  is  a  subject 
that  soon  swallows  up  all  our  thoughts.  Sometimes  when  we 
speak  of  the  distinctions  or  persons  in  the  Godhead,  we  are 
told  that  we  speak  of  what  is  incomprehensible.  We  admit 
it  fully  ;  but  we  remark  that  there  is  nothing  which  relates  to 
the  Deity  that  is  not  incomprehensible:  and  for  myself,  I 
know  of  nothing  in  theology  that  is  more  mysterious,  noth- 
ing that  more  immediately  baffles  and  overwhelms  all  our 
powers  of  comprehension  and  distinct  conception,  than  this 


106^  LECTURES   ON  THE 

very  first  principle,  which  all  but  atheists  admit,  that  God  is 
eternal.  An  eternal  uncaused  existence,  bewilders  and  ab- 
sorbs the  mind,  the  moment  the  attempt  is  made  to  grasp  it, 
or  closely  to  investij^ate  it.  Yet  this  is  the  most  indisputable 
and  fundamental  truth  in  all  theology,  natural  or  revealed. 
Verily,  when  the  being  and  attributes  of  God  are  the  subject 
of  our  investigations,  pur  feeble  beam  of  intellect  can  guide 
us  but  a  little  distance.  We»must  soon  exchange  reasoning 
for  humble  and  adoring  admiration. 

4.  God  is  uncha7igeable.  This  we  must  believe,  if  we 
hold  ihe perfection  of  the  Deity;  because  change  necessarily 
implies  imperfection — as  all  change  must  be  either  for  the  bet- 
ter or  the  worse,  and  perfection  excludes  both.  Having  a 
perfect  foresight  of  all  events,  possible  as  well  as  actual,  and 
the  arrangement  and  ordering  of  all  secondary  causes  and 
agents  from  first  to  last,  we  cannot  conceive  of  any  reason 
why  there  should  be  a  change,  in  any  of  the  purposes  of  the 
Deity.  When  God,  in  some  passages  of  scripture,  is  said  *'  to 
repent,"  it  is  always  to  be  understood  as  spoken  in  accommo- 
dation to  human  perceptions;  that  is,  the  visible  procedure  in 
the  divine  dispensations  is  such  as  when  men  repent,  and 
change  one  course  for  another.  But  such  expressions  are  not 
intended  to  intimate  that  there  is  any  change  in  the  purpose, 
mind  or  will  of  God  :  the  scripture  assures  us  of  the  contrary 
— that  ^*  he  is  of  one  mind,  and  none  can  turn  him,"  and 
that  "  with  him  there  is  no  variableness,  neither  shadow  of 
turning." 

The  remainder  of  this  answer  of  the  catechism  must  be  re- 
served for  a  future  lecture.  Let  us  endeavour  to  derive  from 
what  has  now  been  said,  a  few  practical  and  useful  inferences. 

1.  We  should  learn  always  to  speak  of  that  great  and  glo- 
rious Being,  of  whom  I  have  been  discoursing,  with  holy 
awe;  and  always  to  treat  whatever  relates  to  him  with  the 
deepest  reverence.  It  is  told  of  the  celebrated  Mr.  Boyle — 
equally  distinguished  by  his  learning  and  his  piety — that  he 
never  mentioned  the  name  of  his  Maker,  without  a  sensible 
pause,  both  before  and  after  he  pronounced  the  word.     I  do 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  107 

not  notice  this  as  an  example  to  be  exactly  imitated;  but  I 
am  well  assured,  that  just  in  proportion  as  any  man  advances 
in  holiness  or  true  piety,  in  that  proportion  will  there  be  deep 
solemnity  upon  his  spirit,  whenever  his  thoughts  turn  on 
God  !  whenever  he  addresses  him  in  prayer,  or  whenever  he 
speaks  of  his  Maker  to  others.  How  inexpressibly  shock- 
ing is  it  then,  to  hear  that  great  and  glorious  name,  which 
angeis  and  seraphs  repeat  with  profoundest  veneration,  taken 
lightly  and  irreverently — -nay  in  the  profanest  forms  of  ex- 
pression imaginable — on  the  lips  of  thoughtless  wretched 
mortals.  My  dear  youth,  never  repeat  your  Maker's  name 
with  lightness,  in  common  discourse.  Never  use  it  but  with 
sensible  reverence.  Dread  also  to  treat  any  thing  that  is  con- 
nected with  the  divine  Majesty  with  disrespect,  or  with  levi- 
ty. I  am  satisfied  that  real  reverence  for  the  Deity — his 
name,  his  word,  his  worship,  his  day,  his  house,  his  institu- 
tions,— is  most  closely  and  intimately  connected  with  every 
thing  that  leads  to  true  piety,  with  every  thing  that  is  hope- 
ful in  regard  to  the  salvation  of  the  soul. 

2.  Is  God  every  where  present.?  Are  we  continually  sur- 
rounded, embraced  and  pervaded  by  the  Deity.'*  Are  all  the 
actions  of  our  lives,  all  the  words  of  our  lips,  all  the  thoughts, 
and  feelings,  and  secrets  of  our  souls,  naked  before  his  eye? 
How  solemn  is  the  thought!  The  wicked  are  often  afraid 
and  ashamed  that  men  should  witness  their  vileness.  But 
what  are  worms  of  the  dust,  in  comparison  with  the  infinite 
God,  who  is  always  the  witness  of  what  they  think,  and  do, 
and  say — however  concealed  in  darkness;  however  kept  from 
human  knowledge?^ — Yes,- — and-  he  will,  at  last,  bring  the 
whole  into  judgment,  and  disclose  it  to  the  assembled  /uni- 
verse. Oh  let  us  ever  remember  the  presence  of  God,  and 
our  responsibility  to  him  !  This  will  prove  the  most  power- 
ful and  effectual  guard  that  we  can  place,  not  only  on  all  that 
we  do  or  say,  but  on  all  that  we  imagine,  or  wish,  or  think. 
He  who  is  duly  sensible  that  his  soul  is  continually  open  to 
his  Maker's  inspection,  will  be  careful  of  all  his  thoughts, 


108  LECTURES  ON  THE 

and  all  his  desires — of  all  that  passes  in  his  bosom,  as  well  as 
of  all  that  meets  the  observation  of  the  world. 

But  the  omnipresence  and  omniscience  of  the  Deity  are,  to 
the  truly  pious  and  devout  mind,  a  subject  of  the  most  pleas- 
ing contemplation,  and  the  source  of  high  and  holy  pleasure 
and  delight.  To  the  friend  and  child  of  God,  what  can  be 
more  gratifying  than  to  recollect  that  his  heavenly  Father, 
the  Almighty  God,  is  ever  with  him;  to  protect  him  in  dan- 
ger; to  comfort  him  in  affliction  ;  to  support  him  in  distress; 
to  enlighten  him  in  doubt  and  darkness;  to  be  a  very  pre- 
sent help  in  every  time  of  trouble;  to  be  communed  with  in 
the  closet,  or  on  the  bed,  as  well  as  in  every  act  of  social 
worship;  to  witness  every  sigh,  and  every  groan,  and  every 
tear;  to  hear  the  very  desires  of  the  soul  ;  to  listen  to  every 
prayer  or  petition,  which  is  ejaculated  from  the  heart  when 
no  words  are  uttered;  to  support  and  comfort  in  the  hour  of 
death;  and  to  receive  the  departing  spirit  to  the  mansions  of 
eternal  peace  and  rest  and  joy — ^to  a  knowledge  and  an  enjoy- 
ment of  Himself,  of  which  on  earth  we  can  form  no  adequate 
conception.  My  dear  children !  make  God  your  friend. 
There  is  a  happiness  in  having  him  for  your  friend  and  father, 
that  cannot  be  described.  It  fills,  and  was  intended  to  fill, 
the  whole  soul.  It  is  not  to  be  compared  with  any  earthly 
enjoyments.  They  never  fully  satisfy ;  and  they  are  fleet- 
ing at  the  best.  Soon  you  must  leave  them,  or  they  be 
taken  from  you.  But  in  the  friendship,  and  favour,  and  en- 
joyment, of  the  almighty  and  eternal  God,  there  is  a  pleasure, 
a  holy,  a  serene,  and  sometimes  an  ecstatick  joy,  that  satisfies 
every  desire  of  the  soul — of  which  accidents  cannot  deprive 
you,  of  which  death  itself  cannot  rob  you. — Rob  you,  did  I 
say? — Death  will  only  shake  ofi"  those  incumbrances  of  flesh 
and  sense,  which  hinder  and  debase,  and  circumscribe  this 
heavenly  delight;  and  render  it  pure,  perfect  and  eternal, 
in  the  bosom  of  our  God  and  Saviour.  It  is  to  this  that  true 
religion  seeks  to  lead  you.  Will  you  not  listen  to  her  voice? 
Will  you  not  yield  to  her  solicitations?  Will  you  prefer  the 
dust  and  dross  of  time  before  this  heavenly  treasure  ?     Say, 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  109 

in  the  strength  of  God  that  you  will  not.  Say  that  from  this 
hour,  let  others  do  as  they  will,  you  will  seek,  till  you  find 
^'  the  pearl  of  great  prrce — the  good  part  which  shall  not  be 
taken  away  from  you."  Father  of  mercies! — may  this  be 
the  resolution  of  every  hearer;  and  may  thine  own  blessed 
Spirit  render  the  resolve  effective.  We  ask  it  in  the  name 
and  for  the  sake  of  Christ  our  Saviour — Amen. 


LECTURE  VII. 

Wliat  is  God? — continued. 

In  our  last  lecture  we  entered  on  the  discussion  of  that  an- 
swer in  our  Shorter  Catechism  which  relates  the  being  and 
perfections  of  God,  and  which  is  thus  expressed — "  God  is  a 
spirit,  infinite,  eternal  and  unchangeable,  in  his  being,  wis- 
dom, power,  holiness,  justice,  goodness,  and  truth. ^  A  short 
statement  was  given  of  the  manner  in  which  the  existence  of 
the  Deity  is  proved;  and  we  also  considered  briefly  his  spi- 
rituality, infinity,  eternity  and  unchangeableness.  Without 
farther  recapitulation,  we  proceed  to  consider  the  remaining 
attributes  of  the  Deity,  as  specified  in  the  answer  before  us — 
Of  these  the  next  in  order  is  Wisdom, 

This,  like  all  the  other  divine  attributes,  is  infinite.  The 
omniscience  of  the  Deity  is  included  in  his  attribute  of  wis- 
dom. Of  this  something  was  said,  in  speaking  of  the  immen- 
sity of  the  Supreme  Being.  I  now  add,  that  "  all  things  in 
all  their  relations,  all  things  existing  and  all  things  possible, 
are  the  objects  of  the  divine  knowledge.'^*  The  Deity  Him- 
self, I  repeat,  is  perfectly  known  only  to  Himself.  That  which 
is  finite  never  can  comprehend  that  which  is  infinite.  It  is 
the  h:s,hest  expression  of  God's  unbounded  knowledge,  to  say- 
that  he  perfectly  knows  Himself. 

"  Witherspoon 


110  LECTURES  ON  THE 

The  knowledge  which  the  Deity  has  of  his  creatures,  and 
of  their  actions  both  present  and  future  is,  in  no  degree,  de* 
pendent  on  the  creatures.  To  him  nothing  is  contingent. 
He  has  a  certain  and  infalh'ble  foreknowledge  of  all  those 
events  and  all  those  actions,  which  we  denominate  casual  or 
contingent.  Very  many  of  the  things  predicted,  or  prophe- 
sied of  in  holy  scripture,  depended  on  the  free  actions  of 
moral  agents.  Yet  these  actions,  it  is  plain,  were  perfectly 
known  to  God,  hundreds  of  years  before  any  of  the  agents 
existed.  This  foreknowledge  did  not  impair  the  freedom  of 
the  agents;  nor  can  we  tell  how  their  actions  were  fore- 
known. Still,  we  have  the  most  unquestionable  evidence  of 
the  fact.  Nor  was  this  only  some  general  foresight  or  pres- 
cience. It  was  a  particular  knowledge  of  every  individual 
creature  concerned,  and  of  every  circumstance  of  his  conduct 
or  actions. 

"  Wisdom  is  usually  considered  as  respecting  some  end  to 
be  obtained;  and  it  implies  the  clear  discovery  of  the  best 
and  most  effectual  means  of  attaining  it."*  In  all  the  works 
of  creation  and  providence,  the  infinite  wisdom  of  God  is  con- 
spicuous. If  we  search  into  what  are  called  the  laws  of  na- 
ture— if  we  observe  the  order,  harmony,  and  regularity  of  the 
heavenly  bodies;  or  analyse  the  various  material  substances; 
or  consider  the  immense  number  and  diversity  of  structure  of 
living  creatures,  and  how  each  one  is  formed  to  answer  the 
purpose  of  its  existence;  or  take  a  survey  of  the  all  but  infi- 
nite variety  and  beauty  of  the  vegetable  kingdoms;  or  con- 
template the  structure  and  organization  of  our  own  bodies, 
and  the  powers  and  faculties  of  our  minds;  and  if,  in  all,  we 
mark  the  wonderful  adaptation  of  means  to  ends,  and  the  pro- 
vision which  is  made  for  the  preservation  and  gratification  of 
all  sentient  beings — we  shall  every  where  be  struck  with  the 
infinite  wisdom  of  the  great  Creator;  and  we  shall  find  enough 
to  overwhelm  our  minds,  if  we  attempt  to  comprehend  it. 

But  especially  in  the  plan  of  redemption  by  Jesus  Christ, 


Witherspoon. 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  Ill 

the  wisdom  of  God  shines  with  transcendent  lustre.  No  wis- 
dom short  of  that  which  is  infinite  could  have  devised  that 
plan  in  which  "  mercy  and  truth  have  met  together^  righte- 
ousness and  peace  have  kissed  each  other" — In  which  al!  the 
claims  of  violated  justice  are  completely  satisfied,  while  yet 
the  offending  sinner  is  not  only  justified  and  acquitted,  but 
qualified  for  the  happiness  of  heaven  and  raised  to  the  eternal 
enjoyment  of  it.  "  Christ  the  power  of  God,  and  the  wisdom 
of  God,"  the  great  apostle  of  the  gentiles  represents  as  the 
epitome  of  his  preaching — And  any  system  of  religion  which 
exhibits  salvation  by  Christ  as  a  scheme  which  human  wis- 
dom might  devise  or  provide  for,  is  unquestionably  false; 
and  he  who  has  never  seen  the  wonderful  wisdom  of  God,  as 
manifested  in  every  part  of  this  "  great  salvation,"  is  yet  ia 
that  blindness  in  which,  according  to  St.  Paul,  the  god  of  this 
world  holds  those  who  believe  not. 

The  next  attribute  or  perfection  of  God,  mentioned  in  the 
answer  before  us,  is  his  Power.  The  omnipotence  of  the 
Deity  is  conspicuous  in  all  the  works  of  creation  and  provi- 
dence. When  we  look  at  the  visible  universe,  and  recollect 
that  there  was  a  period  in  which  it  had  no  existence,  and  that 
it  sprang  into  being  at  the  word  of  the  Almighty, — how  are 
we  lost  in  astonishment  at  the  power  which  could  produce 
such  an  effect!  The  formation  of  something  out  of  nothing, 
is  indeed  an  operation  incomprehensible  to  the  human  mind. 
Hence  the  atheism  of  philosophers  both  ancient  and  modern: 
they  have  professed  to  believe  matter  eternal,  because  they 
could  not  comprehend  how  it  should  be  formed  out  of  no- 
thing. Yet  they  have  been  driven  into  absurdities  unspeak- 
ably gross,  and  even  ridiculous,  on  every  hypothesis  which 
they  have  ever  been  able  to  form.  The  truth  is,  that  ex- 
ertion of  Almighty  power  by  which  the  material  universe 
was  called  out  of  nothing  into  existence,  although  indeed  in- 
comprehensible, is  not  incredible,  if  we  admit  the  being  and 
perfections  of  the  Deity.  These  admitted,  creation  by  the 
power  of  God,  affords  infinitely  the  most  rational  and  the 
most  credible  account  of  the  origin  of  all  other  beings,  that 


112  LECTURES  ON  THE 

ever  was  or  can  be  given — "  In  the  beginning  God  cre- 
ated the  heavens  and  the  earth — He  said  let  there  be  light  and 
there  was  light — He  spake  and  it  was  done.  He  commanded 
and  it  stood  fast/^ 

The  same  power  which  created,  is  necessary  to  preserve 
and  uphold  the  universe.  The  laws  of  nature  are  words 
without  a  meaning,  if  they  are  not  intended  to  express  the 
will  or  appointment  of  the  Deity,  Whether  we  do,  or  do 
not  maintain,  that  preservation  is  a  constant  creation,  we  must 
admit  that  all  things  depend  on  God,  are  ordered  according 
to  his  sovereign  will,  exactly  fulfil  his  purposes,  and  will  cease 
their  operations  whenever  he  shall  please.  The  revolution 
of  the  seasons;  the  succession  of  day  and  night;  the  fertility 
of  the  earth,  and  all  the  secondary  causes  that  produce  it;  a 
salubrious  or  a  pestilential  atmosphere;  winds  and  tornadoes; 
thunder  and  storm  ;  earthquakes,  volcanoes,  and  inundations; 
are  all  ordered  and  directed  by  the  God  of  providence.  Yea, 
^^a  sparrow  falleth  not  to  the  ground,"  nor  a  hair  from  our 
heads,  "  without  our  heavenly  Father."  To  believe  this,  is 
surely  as  comfortable  as  it  is  pious. 

Nor  must  we  forget  the  illustrious  display  of  the  almighty 
power  of  God  in  the  glorious  work  of  man's  redemption.  It 
was  manifested  in  "  laying  the  chief  corner  stone,  in  the  union 
of  the  human  nature  with  the  person  of  the  eternal  Son  of 
God;  in  supporting  Him  under  the  inconceivable  load  of  di- 
vine wrath,  for  our  sins;  and  in  spoiling  principalities  and 
powers,  in  that  very  nature  which  Satan  had  vanquished  at 
first."  Hence  the  Redeemer  is  called  the  "/?oz^er,"  as  well 
as  "  the  wisdom  of  God."  Hence  he  is  denominated  "  the 
arm  of  the  Lord,"  and  "  the  man  of  his  right  hand." 

We  proceed  to  consider  the  Holiness  of  God.  Holiness 
is  sometimes  used  to  denote  the  aggregate  of  the  moral  per- 
fections of  the  Deity,  and  sometimes  as  indicating  a  distinct 
attribute.  It  is  manifestly  used  in  the  latter  sense,  in  the 
answer  before  us ;  because  the  moral  perfections  of  God  are 
immediately  and  severally  enumerated.  "  Taken  in  this 
limited  sense,  (says  Dr.  Witherspoon)  it  is  extremely  difficult 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  113 

to  define  or  explain.  Holiness  is  that  character  of  God,  to 
which  veneration,  or  the  most  profound  reverence  in  us,  is 
the  correspondent  affection.  It  is  also  sometimes  expressed 
by  purity." — "  Holiness"— say  Erskine  and  Fletcher,  in  what 
is  called*  *  the  Synod's  Catechism,'  and  to  which  I  own  myself 
indebted  in  these  lectures,  for  many  useful  thoughts — Holi- 
ness is  that  essential  rectitude,  or  integrity  of  the  divine  na- 
ture, whereby  he  infinitely  delights  in  his  own  purity,  and  in 
every  thing  agreeable  to  his  will,  and  hath  a  perfect  hatred 
and  abhorrence  of  every  thing  contrary  to  it.  God  is  as  ne- 
cessarily holy,  as  he  is  necessarily  God  ; — ^*  Who  shall  not 
fear  before  thee,  0  Lord;  for  thou  only  art  holy."  He  hath 
put,  as  it  were,  a  peculiar  honour  on  his  own  holiness,  inas- 
much as  he  singles  it  out  as  the  attribute  to  swear  by  for  the 
accomplishment  of  his  promises  and  threateriings — "  Once  I 
have  sworn  by  my  holiness,  that  I  will  not  lie  unto  David." 
Finite  creatures,  even  of  the  highest  order,  are  not  able  to  be- 
hold the  brightness  of  this  attribute,  in  their  Creator:  For 
when  the  angels  themselves  view  his  infinite  holiness,  as  ma- 
nifested in  Christ,  they  are  represented  as  covering  their  faces 
with  their  wings.  Every  thing  pertaining  to  God  bears  the 
impress  of  his  holiness.  He  is  said  to  be  holy  in  all  his  works 
— His  word  is  holy;  his  covenant,  or  promise  is  holy;  his  sab- 
bath is  holy;  his  people  are  holy;  his  ministring  .spirits  are 
the  holy  angels ;  and  the  place  where  he  specially  dwells  is 
the  high  and  holy  place.  The  greatest  opposite  of  the  holi- 
ness of  God  is  sin  ;  and  the  highest  display  of  his  holiness  in 
the  hatred  of  sin  was,  in  hiding  his  face  from  his  own  beloved 
Son,  as  bearing  our  iniquity. 

The  next  divine  attribute,  in  the  enumeration  before  us,  is 


"  In  the  use  of  the  catechism  here  mentioned,  the  author  has  sometimes 
laken  the  language  of  the  book,  and  at  other  times  he  has  changed  it,  or  in- 
termixed it  with  his  own.  He  has  placed  the  marks  of  quotation  where  he  has 
made  no  change  in  the  expression,  but  not  where  a  change  has  been  made. 
He  wishes  it  may  be  remembered  that  where  marks  of  quotation  appear,  with- 
out a  distinct  referejice  to  an  author,  the  proper  reference  is  to  this  catechism  ; 
and  he  hopes  that  the  explanation  here  given  is  sufficient  to  prevent  the 
charge  of  any  unfairness. 


1.14  LECTURES   ON  THE 

the  justice  of  God.  Justice  has  been  defined — "  an  invariable 
determination  to  render  to  all  their  due."*  In  the  Deity,  it 
is  that  Bsssential  attribute  of  his  nature,  by  which  he  is  infi- 
nitely rig;hteous  or  equitable  in  himself,  and  in  all  his  dispen- 
sations and  awards  towards  his  creatures.  The  justice  of  God 
is  manifested  in  giving  laws,  perfectly  holy,  just  and  jjjood,  to 
all  his  rational  and  moral  creatures;  and  in  his  rendering  to 
them  their  due,  according  to*  law,  without  respect  of  persons. 
Hence  when  angels  sinned,  they  were  cast  down  to  hell,  and 
are  reserved  in  chains  of  darkness  to  the  judgment  of  the 
great  day:  And  when  man  sinned,  he  would  inevitably  have 
shared  in  the  same  awful  doom,  if  the  wisdom  of  God,  in 
union  with  his  mercy,  had  not  provided  a  way  to  answer  the 
demands  of  his  justice,  by  the  vicarious  atonement  of  Christ 
our  Saviour — a  way  in  which  God  can  be  just,  and  yet  the 
justifier  of  every  one  that  believeth  in  Jesus — "  He  who 
knew  no  sin,  was  made  sin  for  us,  that  we  might  be  made 
the  righteousness  of  God  in  him." 

In  speaking  of  the  divine  justice,  I  must  take  a  passing  no- 
tice of  what  has  been  called  the  vindictive  justice  of  God ;  but 
which  I  would  rather  call  his  vindicatori/  justice,  because  the 
term  vindictive  is  now,  I  think,  scarcely  used  but  in  a  bad 
sense.  The  point  in  debate — for  it  has  been  much  debated — 
is,  whether  we  have  reason  to  believe  that  it  belongs  to  the 
divine  justice,  to  punish  transgression  without  regard  to  con- 
sequences, that  is,  to  the  ultimate  benefit  of  the  transgressor, 
or  to  the  example  as  a  warning  to  others.  On  this  I  remark 
in  the  first  place,  that  it  is  impossible  for  us  to  know  whether 
every  instance  of  the  punishment  of  transgression  which  can 
ever  take  place,  may  not  be  connected  with  the  good  of  the 
whole  intelligent  and  moral  creation  of  God.  For  aught  we 
know  this  may  be  so ;  although  the  manner  in  which  it  takes 
place  may  not  be  discernible  by  us.  Nay,  the  whole  force  of 
inductive  reasoning,  seems  to  me  to  be  in  favour  of  the  belief, 
that  such  is  really  the  fact.    In  the  mean  time,  the  sense  of  ill 

"  Witherspoon. 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  115 

desert,  which  natural  conscience  produces  in  our  minds  when- 
ever we  do  what  we  know  to  be  wrong,  makes  guilt,  simply  in 
itself^  the  proper  object  of  punishment.  And  if  guilt,  when 
only  imputed,  caused  such  dreadful  sufferings  as  it  did,  when 
the  sinless  Saviour  stood  in  the  sinner's  place,  we  cannot  ra- 
tionally believe  that  it  is  consistent  with  the  divine  justice,  that 
it  should  ever  go  unpunished.  This,  my  young  friends,  is  a 
principle  which  enters  deeply  into  the  whole  system  of  gospel 
truth.  Almost  all  loose  and  dangerous  opinions  in  religion 
may  be  traced  to  a  light  sense  of  the  inherent  evil  of  sin; — 
to  a  false  notion  that  the  justice  of  God  does  not  always  re- 
quire its  punishment,  or  expiation.  Dr.  Owen  has  written  a 
most  able  treatise  on  this  subject,  which,  if  it  should  fall  in 
your  way,  I  advise  you  carefully  to  peruse.  It  was  written 
in  Latin,  and  the  English  translation  is  not  a  good  one;  but 
it  will  serve  to  give  you  a  view  of  the  powerful  arguments  by 
which  the  vindicatory  justice  of  God  is  maintained 

We  come  now,  in  the  next  place,  to  consider  the  ^oofl?«e*5 
of  God.  This  perfection  implies  a  disposition  in  the  Deity  to 
communicate  tiappiness  to  all  his  creatures.  The  goodness 
of  God  appears  in  all  his  works; — in  creation,  in  providence, 
and  pre-eminently,  in  the  work  of  redemption. 

No  one  who  observes  attentively  the  common  appearances 
of  nature  ;  not  only  the  revolution  of  the  seasons  and  the  suc- 
cession of  day  and  night,  but  the  abundance  which  the  earth 
produces,  for  the  support  both  of  man  and  beast;  the  admira- 
ble provision  made  in  the  organization  of  every  animal,  to 
enable  it  to  acquire  its  proper  food,  to  propagate  and  preserve 
its  species,  and  to  guard  itself  against  its  natural  enemy;  and 
the  actual  gratification  and  enjoyment  experienced  by  every 
creature  that  has  life; — no  one  who  observes  all  this,  can 
fail  to  be  convinced  of  the  goodness  of  the  great  Creator,  in 
the  formation,  preservation,  and  government  of  the  universe. 
That  there  is  much  natural  evil,  much  suffering  of  pain  and 
distress,  none  can  deny.  But  still,  it  is  also  undeniable  that 
there  is,  on  the  whole,  an  immense  balance  or  preponHcry  ice 
of  happiness  or  enjoyment.     "  The  earth  is  full  of  the  good- 


116  LECTURES  ON  THE 

ness  of  the  Lord — He  openeth  his  hand  and  satisfieth  the 
wants  of  every  living  thing."  And  it  belongs  to  the  believer 
in  revelation — and  to  him  only  it  belongs — to  give  some  ac- 
count of  the  misery  and  suffering  that  exist  in  our  world.  He 
knows  that  the  world  now,  is  not  what  it  was  when  it  came 
fresh  from  the  forming  hand  of  its  Almighty  Author.  Theriy 
he  who  made  it,  on  the  most  perfect  survey,  saw  and  pro- 
nounced it  good.  The  sin  of  man  has  introduced  into  our 
world  all  the  natural  evil  that  has  marred,  and  that  still 
mars,  the  fair  creation  of  the  God  of  goodness.  Never  was 
there  a  fouler  slander  than  that  which  charges  the  holders  of 
the  sentiments  contained  in  our  catechism,  with  representing 
the  Deity  as  having  made  man  a  sinner;  as  having  doomed 
him,  by  a  necessity  of  nature,  to  misery.  No  verily,  what- 
ever difficulty  there  may  be — and  difficulty  there  is,  on  every 
system  or  hypothesis — in  accounting  fully  for  the  present 
guilty  and  suffering  state  of  man,  and  the  various  evils  that 
infest  the  world,  we  hold  that  God  created  all  things  good; 
that  he  created  man  in  knowledge,  righteousness  and  true 
holiness;  and  that  it  would  be  entirely  irreconcilable  with  all 
our  ideas  of  the  goodness  and  perfection  of  God,  if  any  part  of 
his  original  creation  had  not  been  good — perfectly  good. 
But  it  is  just  a  plain  and  undeniable  matter  of  fact,  that  mi- 
sery and  guilt  are  in  the  world.  Let  those  then  who  object 
to  our  catechism  tell  us  how  they  came  into  the  world,  and 
how  and  why  they  continue  in  it.  Do  they  admit  that  misery 
is  the  consequence  of  man's  sin?  If  so,  they  thus  far  agree 
with  us.  But  will  they  dare  to  say  that  the  Deity  could  not 
have  ordered  it  otherwise — could  not  have  formed  and  guard- 
ed a  moral  agent,  such  as  man,  so  that  he  should  neither  have 
sinned  nor  suffered  ?  If  he  could,  and  yet  did  not  so  form 
and  guard  him,  then  let  them  reconcile  this  with  the  good- 
ness of  God.  If  they  altogether  deny  human  guilt,  then  let 
them  reconcile  it  with  the  divine  goodness,  that  there  is  so 
much  suffering  where  there  is  no  offence.  The  truth  is,  that 
the  orthodox  sentiments  are  the  most  rational  and  the  easiest 
of  belief,  as  well  as  the  most  scriptural.     We  hold  that  "  God 


SHORTER    CATECHISM.  117 

made  man  upright,  and  that  he  hath  sou2!:ht  out  many  inven- 
tions." But  I  am  digressing  too  far.  We  shall  hereafter 
have  occasion  to  enter  more  at  large  into  this  subject. 

In  the  mean  time,  I  remark,  that  every  mind  which  is  un- 
der the  influence  of  truly  pious  feelings,  views  it  as  a  wonder- 
ful exhibition  of  the  goodness  and  forbearance  of  God,  that 
there  is  not  unspeakably  more  suffering  than  there  is,  in  a 
world  in  which  there  is  so  much  sin;  so  much  awful  provo- 
cation of  a  righteous  and  holy  God — That  notwithstanding  it 
all,  he  spares  rebels  and  blasphemers,  crowns  their  lives  with 
temporal  mercies  innumerable,  continues  to  them  the  offers 
and  invitations  of  mercy,  and  eventually  brings  some  of  them 
to  repentance  and  salvation.  This  leads  me  to  remark,  that 
the  most  conspicuous  and  transcendent  display  of  the  good- 
ness of  God,  ever  made  to  our  world — or  probably  to  the  uni- 
verse— was  the  gift  of  his  own  coequal  Son,  to  be  our  Sa- 
viour— To  be  a  Saviour,  at  the  expense  of  a  life  of  hardship 
and  suffering,  and  a  death  of  ignominy  and  agony  united — 
the  Saviour  of  fallen,  guilty,  rebellious  men;  and  thus  to  raise 
them  from  all  the  ruins  of  their  apostacy,  to  be  children  of 
God,  and  heirs  with  his  own  dear  Son  of  an  eternal  inherit- 
ance, a  kingdom  of  glory  in  the  heavens.  Here  is  a  display 
of  goodness  emphatically  Godlike;  a  display  which,  like  all 
the  other  ways  and  works  of  God,  surpasses  the  bounds  of 
human  comprehension. 

It  is  proper  to  remark,  that  the  attribute  of  Mercy  is  in- 
cluded in  that  of  goodness,  in  the  enumeration  before  us. 
Mercy  is  a  particular  form,  or  kind  of  goodness;  and  to  us 
sinners  it  is  the  most  interesting  form.  "  Mercy  is  a  readi- 
ness to  forgive  the  guilty,  and  to  remit  deserved  punishment 
— It  is  never  mercy  to  pardon,  if  it  would  not  have  been  per- 
fectly equitable  and  just  to  punish."*  Mercy  is  that  attribute 
of  God,  of  which  the  light  of  nature  gives  but  feeble  and  du- 
bious intimations.  The  assurance  of  it  comes,  and  can 
come,  from  revelation  only.     None  but  the  Being  who  was 

*  WitherspooTi. 


118  LECTURES  ON  THE 

offended  could  certainly  tell  that  he  would  forgive :  and 
guilt,  which  is  always  fearful  and  suspicious,  required  the 
strongest  and  most  explicit  assurance  that  it  vvould,  on  the 
proper  terms,  he  pardoned.  This  assurance,  I  repeat,  could  not 
he  given  but  by  an  :  xpress  revelation — and  for  ever  blessed  be 
the  God  of  all  goodness,  it  has  thus  been  given  ;  and  given  in 
connexion  with  that  unspeakable  gift  of  the  Son  of  God,  which 
assures  pardon  and  acceptance  even  to  the  chief  of  penitent 
and  believing  sinners. 

It  only  remains,  in  considering  the  answer  before  us,  to 
speak  of  Truths  as  an  attribute  of  God.  "  Truth* — it  has 
been  well  observed — is  inseparable  from  infinite  perfection : 
for  any  departure  from  truth  must  be  considered  as  arising 
from  weakness,  or  necessity.  What  end  could  be  served,  to 
a  self-sufficient  and  all-sufficient  Being,  by  falsehood  or  de- 
ception ?"  There  is  I  think  no  one  of  the  attributes  of  God 
more  insisted  on  in  holy  writ  than  truth.  He  is  there  cha- 
racterized, by  calling  him  '^  the  God  of  truth;"  and  it  is  af- 
firmed that  "  it  is  impossible  for  God  to  lie."  He  is  true  to 
his  word;  true  to  his  covenants;  true  to  his  purpose;  true  to 
his  promises;  true  to  his  threatenings.  The  great  aggrava- 
tion of  the  sin  of  unbelief,  is  that  *'  it  makes  God  a  liar:"  and 
all  false  dealing  with  the  God  of  truth,  is  represented  as  in- 
-volvjng  guilt  of  the  most  awful  kind.  The  tremendous  doom 
of  Ananias  and  Sapphira,  was  brought  upon  them  because 
they  had  not  merely  *'  lied  unto  men,  but  unto  God." 

Thus  have  we  taken  a  cursory  and  general  notice  of  the 
divine  attributes.  In  what  you  have  heard  upon  them,  my 
aim  has  been  to  suggest  the  leading  ideas  which  we  derive, 
in  regard  to  them,  both  from  reason  and  revelation.  Only 
the  leading  ideas  could  be  suggested — A  whole  lecture  might 
have  been  employed  on  each  attribute,  without  exhausting 
the  subject. 

The  practical  inferences  derivable  from  a  consideration  of 
the  divine  attributes,  are  both  very  numerous  and  very  impor- 

*  Witherspoon. 


SHORTER    CATECHISM.  119 

tant.     We  cannot  however  do  more  than  direct  your  atten- 
tion, in  the  briefest  manner,  to  a  few. 

1.  Did  we  derive  our  being,  and  all  our  powers  from  God; 
and  are  we  constantly  upheld,  preserved  and  provided  for,  by 
him?  Then  how  perfectly  reasonable  is  it,  that  he  should 
require  us  to  love,  and  serve,  and  obey  him;  and  how  un- 
speakably unreasonable,  wicked  and  rebellious  is  it,  in  those 
who  refuse  their  affections  and  obedience  to  their  Creator, 
Preserver  and  Redeemer — but  give  them  all  to  h^s  enemies? 
0  that  this  could  be  seen  in  its  proper  light,  and  be  felt  with 
some  degree  of  its  proper  force  and  impression! 

2.  Is  God  infinitely  wise?  How  should  this  induce  his  cove- 
nant people,  to  trust  him  unreservedly  to  order  for  them  the 
whole  lot  of  life,  and  all  that  concerns  them  for  time  and  eter- 
nity? What  can  they  desire  more,  than  that  infinite  wisdom 
should  choose  for  them  that  which  is  best? — and  this  it  will 
do  assuredly.  But  how  vain,  as  well  as  impious,  are  all  the 
plots,  and  plans,  and  designs  of  the  wicked,  either  to  oppose 
the  purposes  of  God,  or  to  escape  the  punishment  with  which 
he  has  threatened  them.  Let  them  consider  in  time,  that 
there  is  "no  knowledge,  nor  counsel,  nor  device  against  the 
Lord — He  taketh  the  wise  in  their  own  craftiness,  and  carrieth 
the  counsel  of  the  froward  headlong." 

3.  Considering  the  infinite  power  and  truth  of  God,  how 
safely  may  his  children  rely  on  the  performance  of  every 
word  which  their  Heavenly  Father  hath  spoken?  How  im- 
plicitly may  they  trust  him  for  a  victory  over  sin,  Satan  and 
the  world;  saying  "  if  God  be  for  us,  who  can  be  against  us?" 
and  for  the  discharge  of  any  commanded  duty,  however  diffit 
cult?  saying  with  the  apostle,  "1  can  do  all  things  through 
Christ,  which  strengtheneth  me."  But  with  what  perfect 
ease  can  this  Almighty  Being  blast  and  defeat  all  the  power 
and  efforts  of  his  enemies?  He  has  only  to  will  it,  and  it  is 
done.  Oh  how  inexpressibly  awful  it  is  for  a  worm  of  the 
dust,  however  distinguished  among  his  fellow  worms,  to  fall 
into  the  hands  of  an  Almighty  avenger!  "Be  wise,  now, 
therefore,  0  ye  kings,  be  instructed  ye  judges  of  the  earth — 


120  LECTURES  ON  THE 

serve  the  Lord  with  fear — kiss  the  Son  lest  he  be  angry  and 
ye  perish  from  the  way  when  his  wrath  is  kindled  but  a  lit- 
tle.    Blessed  are  all  they  that  put  their  trust  in  him." 

4.  When  we  consider  the  holiness  of  God,  how  deeply 
abased  should  the  holiest  man  on  earth  be,  in  reflecting  on 
the  remainders  of  sin  that  yet  cleave  to  him.  It  was  a  view 
of  the  holiness  of  God  that  laid  Job  in  the  dust  of  silence  be- 
fore his  Maker,  and  which  made  him  "  abhor  himself,  and 
repent  in  dust  and  ashes.'*  And  the  very  same  effect  it  will 
always  produce,  on  all  who  have  the  same  right  perceptions 
that  Job  had — And  oh  !  how  do  these  views  endear  our  ador- 
able Mediator,  through  whom  we  may  approach  this  pure 
and  spotless  Being  with  acceptance — Yea,  through  whom  we 
ourselves  may  at  last  be  delivered  from  all  the  pollution, 
and  from  every  stain  of  sin,  and  be  raised  to  the  high,  and 
pure,  and  perfect  enjoyment  of  a  holy  God.  But  alas!  this 
is  the  attribute  that  unsanctified  men  never  love  to  think  of, 
when  they  contemplate  the  Deity — The  thought  of  it  imme- 
diately stirs  up  the  rebellion  of  their  hearts,  because  they  hate 
holiness!  All  their  views  of  God  therefore,  when  they  think 
that  they  love  him,  are  essentially  defective.  They  love  not 
the  true  God,  but  a  being  of  their  own  imagination. 

5.  From  the  justice  of  God  we  infer  the  certain  punish- 
ment, the  tremendous  doom,  of  all  his  irreconcilable  ene- 
mies— Now  they  may  break  his  laws  and  disregard  his  threat- 
enings,  but  the  hour  is  hastening  when  he  will  call  them  to 
his  bar,  and  justice  will  take  its  course  and  have  all  its  de- 
mands— Oh  the  appalling  thought! 

But  those  who  are  washed  in  the  Redeemer's  Wood  have 
nothing  to  fear,  even  from  the  justice  of  God — All  its  de- 
mands have  been  satisfied  by  the  atonement  of  their  surety 
Saviour;  and  it  unites  with  mercy  in  demanding  the  acquittal 
of  all  believers — "  If  we  confess  our  sins,  he  is  faithful  and 
just  to  forgive  us  our  sins." 

6.  Finally — Let  the  goodness  of.  God  fill  the  hearts  of  his 
people  with  gratitude;  especially  for  the  blessings  of  redemp- 
tion, of  which  they  have  been  made  the  partakers — for  the 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  121 

unspeakable  benefits  which  result  from  their  adoption  into  the 
family  of  Christ;  for  the  rich  consolations  that  they  derive 
from  this  high  privilege  on  earth,  and  for  the  incorruptible 
inheritance  and  glorious  crown  which  it  assures  to  them  in 
heaven. 

And  knowest  thou  not,  0  man — 0  impenitent  sinner! — 
that  the  goodness  of  God  leadeth  thee  to  repentance !  Con- 
sider that  every  act  of  sin  which  thou  committest  is  an  act  of 
direct  insult  and  rebellion  against  the  best  Being  in  the  uni- 
verse ;  against  the  source  of  all  the  good  there  is  in  the  uni- 
verse; against  thy  own  first  and  greatest  Benefactor;  against 
the  God  who  is  upholding  and  preserving  thee,  and  crowning 
thy  life  with  loving  kindness  and  tender  mercy — at  the  very 
time  thou  art  returning  Him  evil  for  good,  by  rebelling 
against  Him.  Where  is  any  sense  of  duty?  Where  is  any 
sentiment  of  gratitude  ?  Where  sleeps  every  worthy  princi- 
ple and  feeling  of  which  thy  heart  is  capable,  if  the  goodness 
of  God  leadeth  thee  not  to  repentance? — if  it  do  not  fill  thy 
soul  with  shame  and  confusion,  by  showing  thee  thy  baseness; 
if  it  do  not  break  thy  heart  with  grief  and  contrition  for  thy 
guilt;  if  it  do  not  melt  thy  whole  soul  into  penitential  sorrow 
for  all  thy  vileness;  if  it  do  not  lead  thee  to  break  oflf  thy  sins 
by  repentance,  and  to  return  unto  the  Lord  that  he  may  have 
mercy  upon  thee,  and  to  our  God  who  will  abundantly  par- 
don.    Amen. 


LECTURE  VIII. 

Are  there  more  Gods  than  one? 

How  many  Persons  are  there  in  the  Godhead? 

Having  considered  the  being  and  attributes  of  God,  the 
next  point  that  claims  our  attention  is  his  Unity.  This  is  ex- 
pressed, in  the  answer  to  the  fifth  question  of  our  catechism, 
thus — "  There  is  but  one  only,  the  living  and  true  God." 

Call  to  mind  that  all  the  arguments  which  have  been  ad- 
iiuced  to  prove — and  which  I  think  do  most  conclusively 

Q 


122  LECTURES  ON  THE 

prove— the  being  of  a  God,  go  also  to  prove  as  clearly,  that 
he  is  infinite  and  perfect  in  his  being  and  attributes.     Keep 
this  in  view,  and  then  observe  attentively,  that  one  infinite 
and  perfect  being  is  sufficient  to  give  existence  at  first  to  all 
other   beings,  and  to   uphold   and   govern   them   afterward. 
In  a  word,  there  is  no  need,  in  accounting  for  the  universe, 
to  suppose  more  than  one  supreme  cause.    Nor  is  this  all.   One 
infinite  and  perfect  being,  absolutely  and  necessarily  pre- 
cludes a  second.    If  two  beings  be  supposed  of  equal  or  similar 
attributes,  neither  can  be  infinite  or  perfect:  because  it  is  ma- 
nifest that  if  to  either  were  given  the  powers  and  prerogatives 
of  the  other,  there  would  be  an  increase  of  what  was  possess- 
ed before.     But  what  is  infinite  and  perfect  admits  of  no  pos- 
sible increase;  and  therefore,  as  we  have  seen  that  God  is  in- 
finite  and  perfect,  there  is  and  can   be  but  one  God.     This 
appears  to  me  perfectly  conclusive,  as  a  matter  of  reasoning: 
and  all   that  we  see,  even  without  the  aid  of  holy  scripture, 
goes  to  confirm  the  conclusion  as  a  matter  of  fact.     When 
we  contemplate  the  visible  universe,  we  every  where  behold, 
not  only  power,  wisdom  and  goodness,  but  in  the  perfect  har- 
mony and  order  of  all,  we  see  a  unity  and  simplicity  of 
design  and  end,  which  most  powerfully  impress  the  convic- 
tion that  one,  and  but  one  glorious  being,  created  it  at  first, 
and  upholds  and  governs  it  continually. 

But  my  young  friends,  although  this  important  truth,  that 
there  is  but  one  God,  is  so  clear  to  us  that  it  seems  unneces- 
sary to  spend  much  time  in  its  proof  or  illustration,  yet  you 
ought  to  remember,  and  to  be  very  thankful  while  you  re- 
member, that  your  belief  of  it  is  to  be  attributed  to  your  be- 
ing blessed  with  the  light  of  revelation.  Infidels  may  say 
what  they  will  of  the  uselessness  of  the  Bible,  and  of  the  suf- 
ficiency of  the  light  of  nature  without  it.  But  the  truth  is, 
that  very  much  of  what  they  call  the  light  of  nature  they  bor- 
rowed from  the  Bible,  and  they  most  unjustly  and  ungrateful- 
ly refuse  to  acknowledge  their  obligation.  When  a  point  is 
clearly  revealed  and  taught,  it  is  often  easy  to  show  that  it  is 
agreeable  to  reason  and  nature,  and  yet  reason  and  nature  left 


SHORTER  CATECHISMi  123 

to  themselves,  would  never  have  taught  it.  This  is  pecu- 
liarly true  in  regard  to  the  subject  before  us.  The  unity  of 
the  Deity  appears  plain  to  us;  and  it  is  so  in  reality.  But 
for  this  we  are  entirely  indebted  to  the  Bible;  for  as  hereto- 
fore observed,  mankind  in  every  age  and  nation  of  the  world 
in  which  the  light  of  revelation  has  not  been  enjoyed,  have 
been  Polytheists  and  idolaters.  The  grossness  of  idolatry  in 
the  heathen  world,  even  in  those  nations  that  were  the  most 
improved  in  other  respects,  was  shocking  in  the  extreme.  It 
presents,  when  seriously  contemplated,  one  of  the  most  hum- 
blino;  views  of  the  weakness  and  depravity  of  our  nature  that 
can  possibly  be  taken  There  was  scarce  an  animal  however 
mean  or  loathsome ;  scarce  a  vice  or  passion  however  detest- 
able, which  was  not  deified  and  worshipped.  It  is  to  point 
our  attention  distinctly  to  the  difference  between  the  divine 
object  of  Christian  worship  and  the  impure  rabble  of  heathen 
deities,  that  the  answer  of  the  catechism  calls  Jehovah,  "  the 
one  only  living  and  true  God" — "The  gods  of  the  heathen 
are  vanity  and  a  lie." 

It  may  appear  a  strange  infatuation  to  us,  that  the  ancient 
Israelites  were  so  strongly  and  obstinately  prone  to  the  wor- 
ship of  idols,  as  the  scriptures  represent  them  to  have  been. 
But  this  arises  from  not  conceiving  justly  of  the  state  of  the 
world  at  that  time.  The  present  state  of  India  may  best  illus- 
trate it.  There  idolatry  still  prevails,  as  it  did  among  the 
heathen  who  surrounded  Palestine  and  were  intermingled 
with  the  Hebrews,  in  the  time  of  their  judges  and  their  kings. 
In  India  at  present,  all  descriptions  of  the  people  are  idola- 
ters;  their  false  gods  amount  to  many  thousands;  their  tem- 
ples are  splendid,  and  the  whole  service  is  calculated  to  in- 
flame and  gratify  unhallowed  appetites  and  passions. 

It  was  to  guard  the  chosen  people  of  God  against  the  vari- 
ous abominations  of  idolatry,  and  at  the  same  time  to  esta- 
blish for  the  church  in  every  successive  age,  the  most  funda- 
mental article  of  all  true  religion,  that  so  much  was  said  and 
done  to  retain  among  the  ancient  Israelites  the  practical  be- 
lief of  the  unity  of  God.     It  would  consume  more  than  the 


124  LECTURES  ON  THE 

time  allotted  to  this  lecture,  only  to  read  over  the  passao;es  in 
which  this  great  truth  is  taught  and  inculcated,  either  direct- 
ly or  collaterally;  for  all  that  is  said  against  worshipping 
images,  or  creatures  of  any  kind,  is  directed  to  this  point.  It 
will  therefore  be  sufficient  to  remind  you,  that  the  very  first 
precept  in  the  decalogue  has  for  its  subject  this  essential 
truth — *'  Thou  shalt  have  no  other  gods  before  me." 

I  would  willingly  insist  the  more  on  this  topick,  because 
there  are  those  who  are  fond  of  intimating,  and  who  some- 
times directly  assert,  that  what  we  are  presently  to  consider — 
the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity — is  a  virtual  denial  of  the  unity  of 
Ood.  But  we  repel  the  imputation  with  the  most  perfect  ab- 
horrence, and  the  answer  of  our  catechism,  which  we  have 
just  been  illustrating,  is  a  proof  that  the  charge  is  groundless, 
false  and  base.  With  this  remark  I  proceed  to  the  next  an- 
swer, which  is  thus  expressed — "  There  are  three  persons  in 
the  Godhead,  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost;  and 
these  three  are  one  God,  the  same  in  substance,  equal  in 
power  and  glory." 

It  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  not  only  is  the  unity  of  God 
exclusively  taught  in  the  preceding  answer,  but  that  it  is  re- 
peated in  this,  in  which  the  Trinity  of  persons  is  asserted — 
"  these  three  are  one  God."  So  careful  has  our  church 
been,  to  prevent  any  misapprehension  on  this  great  article  of 
religion. 

In  considering  this  answer,  in  which  is  contained,  at  once 
a  great  mystery  and  an  essential  article  of  Christian  faith,  it 
may  be  proper  to  explain  to  you  two  terms  which  are  used  in 
the  answer.  The  first  is  the  word  Godhead— '^here  are 
three  persons  in  the  Godhead.^'  This  is  a  translation  of  the 
Greek  words  ro  hiov,  and  hioTTii  (to  theion  and  theiotes), 
which  are  used  in  the  New  Testament,  to  denote  the  essential 
Deity ^  or  the  divine  essence.  The  answer,  then,  is — there 
are  three  persons  in  the  divine  essence. 

The  word  persons  is  the  other  term  in  the  answer  that  I 
would  explain.  Person  is  a  translation  of  the  Greek  word 
*yToo-Te6(r/5  {hypostasis).     This  word  is  a  considerable  number 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  1:35 

of  times  used  in  the  Greek  New  Testament;  and  is  the  terna 
employed  in  Heb.  i.  3,  where  it  is  said  of  the  Son  of  God, 
our  Saviour,  "that  he  is  the  brightness  of  his  (the  Father's) 
glory,  and  the  express  image  of  his persofi.'^  From  this  pro- 
bably,, the  fathers  of  the  Greek  church  were  led  to  use  this 
term  in  the  plural  number,  to  express  the  distinctions  in  the 
adorable  Trinity. 

We  translate  the  word  *^5rdo-TCKr<$  {hypostasis)  person^  be- 
cause our  language  does  not  contain  a  better  term  ;  although 
the  meaning  of  it  is  not,  we  admit,  exactly  correspondent  to 
the  Greek  word  of  which  it  is  the  translation.  But  by  per- 
son, with  reference  to  this  subject,  we  mean  an  intelligent 
agent,  to  whom  is  applied  the  personal  pronouns  /,  thou,  he ; 
and  who  is  represented  in  scripture  as  willing  and  acting,  as 
an  individual  wills  and  acts.  Mark,  in  his  outline  of  theo- 
logy entitled  Medulla,  defines  personality  thus — "  A  posi- 
tive mode  of  being,  ultimately  terminating  and  filling  a  sub- 
stantial nature,  and  giving  to  it  incommunicability."* 

We  also  make  use  of  the  word  Trinity.  This  is  not  a 
scripture  term,  but  it  was  early  introduced  by  the  Christian 
fathers,  to  denote  by  a  single  word,  that  unity  of  three  per- 
sons in  the  divine  essence  which  they  considered  as  a  funda- 
mental article  of  Christian  faith.  It  strictly  signifies  tri- 
unity,  or  the  union  of  three  in  one;  and  is  therefore  a  correct 
expression  of  the  idea  intended  to  be  conveyed. 

It  is  unreasonable  to  object  to  proper  and  appropriate  terms, 
because  they"  are  not  found  in  scripture,  when  the  notion,  or 
idea,  which  they  convey,  is  clearly  and  frequently  found 
there.  Terms  that  comprehend  several  ideas  must  often  be 
used,  unless  we  introduce  a  circumlocution  that  would  destroy 
all  clearness  of  reasoning,  as  well  as  all  neatness  of  expression. 
Those  who  commonly  make  the  objection  to  which  I  here 
answer,  ought  to  recollect  that  Unitarian  is  not  a  scriptural 
term,  any  more  than  Trinitarian ;  and  that  the  word  unity 


^  Modus  positivus  entis,  ultimo  terminans  et  complens  naturam  subatantia- 
I«m,  ac  illi  dans  incommunicabilitatem. 


126  LECTURES  ON  THE 

itself,  is  but  twice  found  in  the  New  Testament;  and  where 
found,  has  no  reference  whatever  to  this  subject. 

Having;  thus  explained  the  terms  that  will  be  used  in  this 
discussion,  I  shall  only  farther  remark  in  a  preliminary  way, 
that  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  is  a  doctrine  of  pure  revela- 
tion. Human  reason  alone,  certainly  could  not  have  disco- 
vered it.  That  we  have  good  reason  to  believe  it  was  reveal- 
ed to  our  first  parents,  I  shall  have  occasion  to  show  here- 
after: and  that  it  was  handed  down  by  tradition,  so  as  to  be 
in  some  measure  known  to  the  heathen  nations  of  antiquity, 
has,  I  think,  been  satisfactorily  shown  by  several  learned 
writers.  But  the  truth  itself,  could  come  origjinally  from  re- 
velation only.  The  ligiht  of  nature  may  certainly  discover 
the  existence  of  a  Great  First  cause,  and  indicate  somethinj^  of 
most  of  the  divine  perfections.  But  there  seems  to  be  no 
conceivable  way  in  which  human  reason,  unaided  by  divine 
revelation,  could  have  arrived  at  the  knowledge  that  the  Su- 
preme Being:  is  one  in  essence,  and  yet  three  in  personality. 

In  farther  speaking  on  this  subject,  I  shall  endeavour — 

I.  To  show  that  the  most  peculiar  attributes  or  characteris- 
ticks  of  perfect  Deity,  are,  in  holy  scripture,  ascribed  plainly, 
explicitly  and  frequently,  to  each  of  the  persons  in  the  sacred 
Trinity  ;  and  in  such  a  manner  as  distinctly  to  recognise  their 
personal  character. 

n.  To  refer  to  a  number  of  passages  of  scripture,  which 
plainly  represent,  sometimes  a  plurality,  and  sometimes  a 
Trinity  of  persons,  in  the  one  only  living  and  true  God. 

nr  To  give  explanations,  offer  cautions,  and  answer  objec- 
tions, relative  to  this  important  and  interesting  subject. 

IV.  To  make  some  inferences,  of  a  practical  kind,  from 
what  shall  have  been  said. 

The  remainder  of  this  lecture  will  be  chiefly  employed  on 
the  first  division  in  this  distribution  ;  that  is,  in  endeavouring 
to  show  that  the  most  peculiar  attributes  or  characteristicks  of 
perfect  Deity  are,  in  holy  scripture,  ascribed  plainly,  explicit- 
ly and  frequently,  to  each  of  the  persons  in  the  sacred  Trini- 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  127 

ly ;  and  in  such  a  manner  as  distinx?tly  to  recognise  their  per- 
sonal character. 

Now,  with  respect  to  the  first  person  in  the  holy  Trinity  — 
God  the  Father — there  is  neither  doubt  nor  controversy,  in 
re2;ard  to  the  point  before  us.  We  have  nothing;,  at  present, 
to  do  with  Atheists  :  and  all  Theists,  who  are  not  Trinita- 
rians, ascribe  divine  perfection,  or  perfect  Deity,  to  the 
Father.  We  agree  with  them  entirely  in  this  ascription.  We 
say  that  the  eternal  Father  is  God — the  fountain  of  Deity — 
and  that  every  attribute  or  perfection,  which  we  have  enume- 
rated and  endeavoured  to  illustrate,  unquestionably  belongs  to 
Him.  But  we  also  affirm,  that  to  his  coequal,  coeternal  Son 
and  Spirit,  the  very  same  attributes  and  perfections  are  also 
ascribed,  in  the  inspired  volume  of  unerring  truth.  Here  we 
difier,  radically  and  totally,  from  all  Anti-trinitarians,  from 
the  highest  of  the  Arians  to  the  lowest  of  the  Socinians, — 
from  Dr.  Samuel  Clarke  to  Dr.  Joseph  Priestley.  Here, 
therefore,  is  the  ground  of  controversy — But  0 !  let  us  make 
it  something  better  than  controversy.  Let  us  make  it  the 
subject  of  candid,  humble,  solemn  inquiry.  Let  us  ap- 
proach it  with  a  teachable,  honest,  truth-loving  spirit.  Yea, 
let  us  lift  up  our  hearts  to  God,  with  earnest  desires  that  he 
would  lead  us  into,  and  confirm  us  in  the  truth  ;  that  he 
would  enable  us  to  see  clearly,  what  he  has  condescended  to 
teach  us  on  this  subject  in  his  own  infallible  word;  and  that 
seeing  it,  we  may  receive  it  in  love,  and  rest  upon  it  with  un- 
shaken confidence. 

We  proceed  then  to  allege  evidence  from  scripture,  that  the 
most  peculiar  attributes  or  characteristicks  of  Deity,  are  as- 
cribed, in  the  manner  stated  in  the  proposition,  to  the  second 
person  in  the  sacred  Trinity,  denominated  the  Son  of  God; 
and  who,  by  taking  our  nature  into  union  with  his  divine  na- 
ture, is  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ. 

1.  He  is  called  by  the  name  Jehovah,  the  peculiar  appella- 
tion of  the  true  God — the  great  I  AM. 

There  was  often  a  visible  appearance  of  Jehovah,  the  God 
of  Israel,  under  the  ancient  Jewish  dispensation.    I  shall  cite  at 


1:88  LECTURES  ON  THE 

length  a  single  instance,  out  of  several  that  might  be  mentioned. 
Gen  xviii.  1, — it  is  said,  that  "the'LoRD  appeared  to  him," 
(that  is  to  Abraham) — In  the  original  it  is,  "  And  Jehovah 
appeared  to  him  in  the  plain  of  Mamre ;  and  he  sat  in  the  tent 
door,  in  the  heat  of  the  day:  and  he  lift  up  his  eyes  and  look- 
ed, and  lo,  three  men  stood  by  him."  Then  follows  the  whole 
narrative  of  the  destruction  of  Sodom,  and  of  Abraham's  in- 
tercession for  it,  till  he  was  silenced  by  the  terms  of  his  own 
plea.  Now,  although  there  were  three  that  appeared  to  Abra- 
ham, let  it  be  observed  that  his  whole  address  was  to  one;  and 
that  this  one  is  called  Jehovah^  at  least  ten  times,  in  this  sin- 
gly chapter — is  frequently  called  so,  by  Abraham  himself;  and 
that  this  one  remained  with  Abraham,  after  the  other  two^ 
who  in  the  subsequent  chapter  are  called  angels,  had  left  him 
and  gone  on  to  Sodom.  Here  then  is  a  Being,  who  is  repeat- 
edly called  in  the  language  of  inspiration  Jehovah — the  spe- 
cial, the  appropriate  name  of  the  true  God,  the  God  of  Israel. 
The  question  is,  who  this  Being  was.'*  We  are  assured  from 
scripture^  as  well  as  from  reason,  that  the  Father  was  not,  and 
could  not  be  seen — but  that  he  is  revealed  by  the  Son.  Mat. 
xi.  27.  "  No  man  knoweth  the  Father,  save  the  Son,  and  he 
to  whomsoever  the  Son  will  reveal  him."  John  i.  18 — **  No 
man  hath  seen  God  at  any  time;  the  only  begotten  Son  that 
is  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  he  hath  declared  him."  Can 
there  be  any  reasonable  doubt,  without  going  farther,  that  the 
Jehovah  who  appeared  to  Abraham,  was  the  Son  of  God,  the 
second  person  in  the  Trinity;  who  at  that  time  assumed  a 
human  form,  and  declared  or  revealed  a  part  of  his  Father's 
will  and  purpose  to  Abraham,  the  father  of  the  faithful? 

But  there  is  much  more  evidence  than  has  yet  been  alleged, 
of  the  point  here  maintained.  He  who  is  spoken  of  as  Jeho- 
vah, when  visibly  appearing  to  men,  is  sometimes  expressly 
called  "the  angel  of  the  Lord ;"  sometimes,  as  in  his  appear- 
ance to  Joshua,  "the  captain  of  the  Lord's  host;"  and  once 
"  the  angel  in  whom  the  name  of  God  was."  There  is  no 
hint  that  a  number  of  messengers  were  successively  employed 
to  make  these  divine  communications.     There  was  but  one 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  129 

glorious  Being,  called  both  Jehovah  and  his  angel,  who  was, 
under  the  ancient  Jewish  dispensation,  the  medium  of  the  di- 
vine manifestations.  And  various  things  which  in  the  Old 
Testament  are  said  to  have  been  spoken  by,  or  addressed  to 
Jehovah,  are  in  the  New  Testament  affirmed  to  have  been 
spoken  of,  done  by,  or  addressed  to  Christ.  To  give  one  ex- 
ample— Where  the  sin  of  the  people  against  Jehovah,  when 
they  were  destroyed  by  fiery  flying  serpents,  is  referred  to 
by  the  apostle  Paul,  it  is  expressly  affirmed  to  have  been  com- 
mitted against  CArz>/.—"  Neither  (says  he)  let  us  tempt 
Christ,  as  some  of  them  also  tempted,  and  were  destroyed  of 
serpents." 

But  what  appears  to  me  to  settle  this  point,  on  the  authority 
of  revelation,  is  a  comparison  of  a  prophecy,  in  Isaiah  xl.  3, 
with  what  is  expressly  stated  to  be  a  fulfilment  of  that  pro- 
phecy, in  Mat.  iii.  1,  2,  3. — The  prophecy  is  in  these  words 
— "  The  voice  of  him  that  crieth  in  the  wilderness,  prepare 
ye  the  way  of  Jehovah — so  it  is  in  the  original — make 
straight,  in  the  desert,  a  highway  for  our  God."  Now  hear 
the  Evangelist — "  In  those  days  came  John  the  Baptist, 
preaching  in  the  wilderness  of  Judea,  and  saying,  repent  ye, 
for  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand.  This  is  he  who  was 
spoken  of  by  the  prophet  Esaias,  saying,  the  voice  of  one  cry- 
ing in  the  wilderness,  prepare  ye  the  way  of  the  Lord,  make 
his  paths  straight."  Here  is  unequivocal  evidence,  that  he 
who  in  the  Old  Testament  is  called  Jehovah,  was  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  of  the  New  Testament. 

Let  it  then  be  well  noted  and  remembered,  that  the  incom- 
municable name  of  God, — the  name  which  was  chosen  out  by 
himself,  to  signify  his  absolute  independency,  self-existende, 
eternity  of  being,  and  the  cause  of  existence  to  all  creatures, 
— that  this  appropriate,  sacred  name  of  the  Deity  is,  under 
his  own  infallible  guidance,  applied  to  the  Son  of  God,  our 
Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ.  My  dear  youth,  I  dwell  so 
particularly  on  this  point,  because  it  does  seem  to  me  that  it 
settles  the  whole  question  before  us,  on  the  authority  of  divine 
revelation.     God  has  expressly  declared-—"  I  am  the  Lord" 


130  LECTURES  ON  THE 

— in  the  original — "I  am  Jehovah;  that  is  my  name;  and 
my  glory  will  I  not  give  to  another/'  This  very  name,  com- 
prising in  it  the  glory  of  the  ever-blessed  God,  he  has  actual- 
ly and  repeatedly  given — not  indeed  to  another — but  to  his 
own  co-equal  Son,  who  is  one  with  himself.  What  can  be 
more  decisive  than  this? 

You  will  also  remark,  that  personal  acts  and  agencies  are 
constantly  attributed  to  this  glorious  Being,  this  Son  of  God, 
— the  Jehovah  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  the  Christ  or  Mes- 
siah of  the  New.  Observe  also,  how  the  old  dispensation  and 
the  new  are  connected  together :  and  how  the  Son  of  God 
has  always  been  the  head  of  the  church  on  earth;  always  the 
medium  of  every  divine  manifestation  that  has  ever  been 
made  to  the  children  of  men. 

In  alleging  the  remaining  proofs,  I  shall  be  very  brief:  but 
I  beseech  you  to  give  them  a  very  careful  attention,  for  there 
is  not  one  of  them  v^hich  even  taken  separately,  does  not,  in 
lay  mind,  completely  establish  the  Deity  of  the  Son  of  God, 
our  adorable  Redeemer;  and  prove  his  distinct  personality  in 
the  Godhead. 

We  cannot  stay— it  would  be  an  endless  task — to  confute 
all  the  false  glosses,  and  false  interpretations,  and  allegations 
about  interpolations  and  various  readings,  which  the  opposers 
of  our  Lord's  divinity  have  used,  to  set  aside  the  authority  of 
the  texts  I  shall  quote.  Be  assured  however,  that  there  is 
not  one  of  these  texts  which  I  do  not  verily  believe  tends 
fairly  to  the  point,  toward  which  I  purpose  to  give  it  a  direc- 
tion. Nor  are  the  texts  which  I  shall  quote,  by  any  means 
the  whole  which  the  sacred  volume  contains  of  the  same 
import.  The  difficulty  is  not  to  find  proofs,  but  to  select 
them. 

2dly  then. — The  Son  of  God — Christ  our  Saviour — is,  in 
the  most  direct,  plain,  and  unequivocal  manner,  called  God; 
and  that  repeatedly,  in  the  New  Testament.  Mat.  i.  23 — 
**They  shall  call  his  name  Emmanuel,  which,  being  inter- 
preted, is  God  with  us."  John.  i.  1 — "In  the  beginning 
was  the  Word,  and  the  Word  was  with  God,  and  the  W^ord 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  131 

was  God/^  John  x.  30 — "  I  and  my  Father  are  one."  It 
is  undeniable  that  the  Jews,  to  whom  this  last  text  was  ad- 
dressed, understood  it  as  asserting  that  Christ  was  God  equal 
with  the  Father:  for  they  declared  that  it  was  for  this  reason, 
that  they  took  up  stones  to  stone  him.  Phil.  ii.  6 — "  Let 
this  mind  be  in  you,  which  was  also  in  Christ  Jesus;  who, 
being  in  the  form  of  God,  thought  it  not  robbery  to  be  equal 
with  God."  Heb.  i.  8—"  Unto  the  Son  he  saith,  thy  throne, 
O  God,  is  forever  and  ever."  1  John  v.  20—"  We  are  in 
him  that  is  true,  even  in  his  Son  Jesus  tJhrist — this  is  the  true 
God,  and  eternal  life."  Mark  here,  that  Jesus  Christ  is  af- 
firmed to  be  the  Son  of  God,  and  that  his  proper  Deity  is  as- 
serted in  the  strongest  manner  that  language  can  express — 
"  the  TRUE  God  and  eternal  life." 

3.  The  incommunicable  attributes  of  the  Deity  are  declared 
to  belong  to  Christ  our  Saviour — the  Son  of  God.  Eternity 
is  attributed  to^him,  Mic.  v.  2 — "  Whose  goings  forth  have 
been  of  old,  from  everlasting^^  Rev.  i.  8 — "  I  am  Alpha 
and  Omega,  the  beginning  and  the  ending,  saith  the  Lord, 
which  iSi  and  which  was,  and  which  is  to  come,  the  *^/- 
mightyP  But  the  name  Jehovah,  itself,  peculiarly  implies 
this  attribute. 

Immutability  is  also  ascribed  to  him.  Heb.  i.  12 — "  Thou 
art  the  same,  and  thy  years  shall  not  fail."  This  is  said  in 
contradistinction  from  the  mutability  of  the  Heavens,  and  the 
earth,  and  all  created  things.  Again,  Heb.  xviii  8 — "  Jesus 
Christ,  the  same  yesterday,  to-day  and  forever.'' 

Omniscience  is  also  ascribed  to  Christ.  John  xvi.  30— 
"  Now  we  are  sure  that  thou  knowest  all  things.''  It  is 
worthy  of  remark,  that  a  knowledge  of  what  passes  in  the 
minds  or  hearts  of  men,  is  represented  as  a  peculiar  preroga- 
tive of  the  true  God,  in  the  Old  Testament,  and  this  is  ex- 
pressly and  repeatedly  asserted  to  be  a  prerogative  of  Christ. 
John  ii.  25 — "  Jesus  did  not  commit  himself  unto  them,  be- 
cause he  knew  all  men;  and  needed  not  that  any  should  testi- 
fy of  man,  for  he  knew  what  was  in  man." 

Omnipresence  is  also  attributed  to  Christ.     Matt,  xviii.  20 


132  LECTURES  ON  THE 

— "  Where  two  or  three  are  gathered  together,  in  my  namey 
there  am  I  in  the  midst  of  them.^^  Again,  "  Lo,  I  am  with 
you  always,  even  to  the  end  of  the  world."-  What  is  here 
asserted  by  our  Lord  of  himself,  could  not  possibly  take 
place,  if  the  attribute  of  omnipresence  did  not  belong  to  him. 

Om^nipotence,  in  like  manner  is  clearly  asserted  of  Christ. 
Col.  i.  17- — "  He  is  before  all  things,  and  by  him  all  things 
consist.'^  Creation,  is  expressly  ascribed  to  him.  John  i. 
3 — "  t/^//  things  were  made  hy  him  :^'  ver.  10 — ''the 
world  was  made  hy  him.^^  And  in  the  passage  of  which  I 
have  already  cited  a  part,  there  is  a  formal — I  had  almost  said 
an  elaborate  statement,  of  this  prerogative  of  Christ — Col. 
i.  15,  16,  17.  Observe  that  it  is  expressly  the  Son  of  God,  of 
whom  the  apostle  is  here  speaking,  and  of  whom  he  says — 
"Who  is  the  image  of  the  invisible  God,  the  first-born  of 
every  creature:  For  by  him  were  all  things  created,  that  are 
in  heaven,  and  that  are  in  earth,  visible  and  invisible,  whether 
they  be  thrones,  or  dominions,  or  principalities,  or  powers; 
all  things  were  created  by  him,  and  for  him  :  And  he  is  be- 
fore all  things,  and  by  him  all  things  consist."  Now  it  is 
from  creation  that  the  true  God  is  made  known,  as  distin- 
guished from  all  false  gods.  "  The  heavens  declare  the  glory 
of  God,  and  the  firmament  sheweth  his  handy  work."  And 
creation,  in  all  its  extent,  is  here  declared  to  have  been  pro- 
duced by  our  omnipotent  Saviour. 

4.  And  finally.  Worship  was  given  to  Christ  the  Son  of 
God. — It  is  required  to  be  given  to  him  ;  it  was  accepted  by 
him;  it  is  forbidden  to  be  given  to  any  creature;  and  we 
know  it  was  retused  by  an  angel.  The  obligation  to  worship 
Christ,  is  clearly  implied  in  what  he  says  of  himself,  John  v. 
22,  23— "For  the  Father  judgeth  no  man;  but  hath  commit- 
ted all  judgment  unto  the  Son :  That  all  men  should  honour 
the  Son,  even  as  they  honour  the  Father:  He  that  honoureth 
not  the  Son,  honoureth  not  the  Father  which  hath  sent  him.''' 
The  obligation  to  worship  Christ,  both  in  heaven  and  on 
earth,  is  distinctly  stated  in  the  following  passages — Phil.  ii. 
9,  10—"  Wherefore  God  also  hath  highly  exalted  him,  and 


SHORTER  CATECHISM-  133  . 

given  him  a  name  which  is  above  every  name :  That  at  the 
name  of  Jesus,  every  knee  should  bow,  of  things  in  heaven, 
and  things  in  earth,  and  things  under  the  earth:  And  that 
every  tongue  should  confess  that  Jesus  Christ  is  Lord,  to  the 
glory  of  God  the  Father."  Heb.  i.  6—"  When  he  bringeth 
in  the  first  begotten  into  the  world,  he  saith — t^nd  let  all  the 
angels  of  God  worship  him.^^  Worship  was  actually  given 
to  Christ  when  on  earth,  and  received  by  him  without  reproof 
or  hesitation,  in  a  number  of  instances: — by  the  wise  men  at 
his  birth ;  by  the  blind  man  whose  healing  is  mentioned  in 
the  9th  of  John  ;  by  the  woman  of  Canaan,  who  besought  him 
to  heal  her  daughter:  and  after  his  resurrection,  we  are  ex- 
pressly told  that  "  the  eleven  disciples  went  away  into  Galli- 
lee,  into  a  mountain,  where  Jesus  had  appointed  them:  And 
when  they  saw  him  they  worshipped  him."  In  like  manner 
we  are  told  that  at  his  ascension — ^'  while  he  blessed  them, 
he  was  parted  from  them,  and  carried  up  into  heaven :  And 
they  worshipped  him,  and  returned  to  Jerusalem."  There 
is  every  reason  to  believe,  that  this  worship  offered  to  Christ, 
was  religious  worship.  For  although  the  original  word 
used  in  describing  it — Trpoa-KWta  (proskuneo)  with  its  deriva- 
tives— does  not,  in  all  cases,  denote  religious  worship,  yet 
here  we  have  reason  to  believe  that  this  is  its  signification; 
because  it  is  the  very  word  which  is  used  when  the  centurion 
attempted  to  worship  Peter,  and  was  forbidden  ;  and  when 
the  Apostle  in  the  Apocalypse,  fell  down  to  worship  the  angel 
who  spoke  to  him  in  vision,  and  was  charged,  "  see  thou  do  it 
not — worship  God.^^  In  view  of  this,  it  seems  impossible  not 
to  believe  that  Christ  would  have  forbidden  any  to  worship 
him,  if  he  had  not  been  verily  God— the  proper  object  of  re- 
ligious worship. 

We  have  now  seen,  1.  That  the  appropriate,  incommunica- 
ble name  of  God — Jehovah — is  applied  to  the  Son  of  God — 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  2.  That  he  is  plainly  and  frequently 
called  God,  in  the  New  Testament.  3.  That  the  incommu- 
nicable perfections  of  the  Deity  are  attributed  to  him.  And 
that  creation,  the  great  work  of  God,  was  his  work.     4.  That 


134  LECTURES  ON  THE 

we  are  required  to  worship  him  as  God;  and  that  he  was  so 
actually  worshipped,  and  approved  the  act.  Now,  if  this 
does  not  completely  establish  his  true  and  proper  Deity,  it  is 
not  for  me  to  tell,  or  to  conjecture,  how  it  could  be  done.  I 
repeat  it,  seriously  and  deliberately,  that  if  the  Deity  of  Christ 
is  not  tauij:ht  in  the  scriptures,  I  do  not  know  how  it  could  be 
tau«;ht.  That  the  evidence  is  somewhat  diffuse  I  admit.  But 
although  diffuse,  it  is  not  obscure;  on  the  contrary,  to  an  at- 
tentive  and  honest  inquirer,  it  is  the  more  satisfactory,  be- 
cause it  meets  him  in  so  many  places,  and  in  so  many  forms. 
It  remains  to  consider  briefly,  the  Deity  and  personality  of 
the  Holy  Ghost — 'the  third  person,  or  distinction,  in  the  un- 
divided Godhead.  Much  does  not  need  to  be  said  on  this 
point — Not  surely,  that  it  is  of  less  importance  to  esta- 
blish and  hold  fast  the  Deity  and  personality  of  our  Sancti- 
fier,  than  of  our  Redeemer — but  because  when  the  Deity  of 
the  Son  is  established,  that  of  the  holy  and  blessed  Spirit  is,  I 
think,  at  least  in  modern  times,  not  often  denied.  His  per- 
sonality indeed  is  denied,  by  some  who  consider  the  Godhead 
as  residing  exclusively  in  Christ  Jesus.  But  that  "  when  the 
Holy  Ghost  is  spoken  of,  a  person  or  substance  is  meant,  as 
distinguished  from  any  grace  or  qualification  that  he  may 
possess  or  bestow,  may — says  Dr.  Witherspoon — be  easily 
made  to  appear,  from  many  passages  of  scripture.  John  xvi. 
16 — "And  I  will  pray  the  Father,  and  he  shall  give  you 
another  Comforter^  that  he  may  abide  with  you  for  ever; 
even  the  Spirit  of  truth,  whom  the  world  cannot  receive." 
John  xvi.  13 — "  When  he  the  Spirit  of  truth  is  come,  he 
will  guide  you  into  all  truth ;  for  he  shall  not  speak  of  him- 
self, but  whatsoever  he  shall  hear,  that  shall  he  speak;  and  he 
will  shew  you  things  to  come.  He  shall  glorify  me,  for  he 
shall  receive  of  mine,  and  shall  shew  it  unto  you."  1  Cor. 
xii.  4 — *'^  There  are  diversities  of  gifts,  but  the  same  Spirit ;'' 
— and  then,  after  a  considerable  enumeration  of  spiritual  gifts, 
it  is  added — verse  xi. — "  But  all  these  worketh  that  one 
and  the  self  same  Spirit,  dividing  to  every  man  severally, 
as  he  will."     The  same  thing  is  proved,  in  all  those  passages 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  135 

that  speak  of  grieving  the  Spirit,  resisting  the  Spirit,  and 
quenching  the  Spirit. 

That  the  Holy  Ghost  is  truly  and  properly  God,  I  think 
appears  with  great  evidence  from  the  form  of  baptism.  The 
Holy  Ghost  being  joined  with  the  Father  and  the  Son,  car- 
ries the  strongest  conviction  with  it,  that  he  is  of  the  same 
nature  with  both.  The  same  thing  may  be  said  of  the  form 
of  solemn  benediction. 

The  divinity  of  the  Holy  Ghost  seems  to  be  distinctly  es- 
tablished in  Acts  V.  3,  where  Peter  says  to  Ananias,  "Why 
hath  Satan  filled  thine  heart  to  lie  to  the  Holy  Ghost,"  and 
then  in  the  same  connexion  adds — "  Thou  hast  not  lied 
unto  men  but  unto  God." 

We  might  also,  from  several  passages,  show  that  the  Divine 
attributes  are  ascribed  to  the  Spirit:  as  immensity^  in  the 
139th  Psalm — "  Whither  shall  I  go  from  thy  Spirit?  or 
whither  shall  I  flee  from  thy  presence?"  And  then  follows 
the  beautiful  passage,  descriptive  of  the  omnipresence  of  the 
Deity.  Omniscience  is  attributed  to  the  Spirit,  1  Cor.  ii. 
10 — "  The  Spirit  searcheth  all  things,  yea,  the  deep  things 
of  God."  Nay,  creation  is  ascribed  to  him  as  well  as  to  the 
Son.  Gen.  i.  2, — it  is  said — "  The  Spirit  of  God  moved 
upon  the  waters ;"  and  Job  xxxiii.  4 — "  The  Spirit  of  the 
Lord  hath  made  me;  and  the  breath  of  the  Almighty  hath 
given  me  life."  And  that  the  same  divine  worship,  or  ho- 
mage, is  due  to  the  Spirit,  as  to  the  Father  and  the  Son,  is 
conclusively  argued,  from  his  being  united  with  them  in  the 
inspired  forms  of  baptism  and  benediction;  which  are,  in  fact, 
acts  of  religious  worship. 

Whoever  would  see  what  relates  to  the  holy  and  blessed 
Spirit,  better  treated  of  than  in  any  other  uninspired  composi- 
tion with  which  I  am  acquainted,  should  read  Dr.  Owen's 
"  nNETMATOAoriA,  Of  a  Discourse  concerning  the  Holy 
Spirit;"  a  work  which  I  can  never  peruse  without  admiring 
the  deep  and  lucid  views  of  that  admirable  author,  in  all  that 
relates  to  the  renovation  and  sanctification  of  the  human 
heart. 


136  LECTURES    ON  THE 

It  has  now  I  hope  been  satisfactorily  shown,  that  the 
most  peculiar  attributes,  or  characteristicks  of  perfect  Deity, 
are,  in  holy  scripture,  ascribed  plainly,  explicitly  and  fre- 
quently, to  each  of  the  persons  of  the  sacred  Trinity ;  and  in 
such  a  manner  as  distinctly  to  recognise  their  personal  charac- 
ter. This  was  our  first  proposition.  The  consideration  of 
the  others  must  be  postponed  to  a  future  opportunity,  if  God 
permit. 

In  the  mean  time,  my  dear  youth,  meditate  solemnly  on 
that  holy  Trinity,  in  whose  sacred  name  you  have  been  bap- 
tized, and  to  whom  you  have  been  solemnly  dedicated.  0! 
think  often,  of  the  covenant  God  of  your  fathers,  and  of  the 
church  in  every  age;  and  ask  yourselves,  whether  yow  are  in 
covenant  with  this  glorious  Being.  Every  person  in  the  infi- 
nite Godhead  is  concerned,  and  has  a  part,  in  the  work  of 
man's  redemption  :  And  is  it  possible  that  a  matter  which  has 
thus  engaged  the  blessed  Trinity,  should  have  remained 
till  this  time  a  matter  of  indifference,  or  of  little  concern,  to 
any  oi  you!  If  it  has,  how  irrationally,  how  ungratefully, 
how  dangerously,  have  you  been  acting!  Truly  it  behoves 
you  to  reflect  seriously,  and  without  delay,  on  your  hazard- 
ous situation.  You  must  be  reconciled  to  God  through  his 
Son,  and  by  his  Spirit's  sacred  influence,  or  you  must  perish 
for  ever.  When  is  this  necessary  work  to  be  begun. ^  Shall  it 
not  commence  on  this  very  evening,  on  which  you  have  been 
hearing  of  the  holy  three-one  God,  to  whom  you  have  been 
devoted;  and  to  whom  you  are  bound  by  every  strong  and  ten- 
der tie  to  devote  yourselves?  Will  you  not  begin  to  do  it  in 
this  very  place,  and  then  go  hence  to  your  closets,  and  there 
endeavour  to  draw  near  to  the  Father  of  mercies,  through  the 
mediation  of  his  Son,  and  relying  on  the  aid  of  his  Holy 
Spirit?  And  will  you  not  thus  seek  the  benefits  of  the  great 
salvation  of  the  gospel,  till  you  shall  have  reason  to  believe 
that  they  are  assured  to  you,  for  time  and  for  eternity?  For 
this  let  us  pray  together. 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  137 


LECTURE  IX. 

How  many  Persons  are  there  in  the  Godhead? — continued. 

Without  any  recapitulation  of  what  was  said  in  the  last 
lecture,  on  the  Trinity  of  persons  in  the  Unity  of  the  God- 
head, I  proceed  immediately  to  show — 

II.  That  there  are  a  number  of  passages  of  scripture  which 
plainly  represent,  sometimes  a  plurality,  and  sometimes  a 
Trinity  of  persons,  in  the  one,  only,  living  and  true  God,    , 

Here,  as  in  the  former  lecture,  I  can  by  no  means  introduce 
all  the  passages  that  bear  on  the  point  under  discussion,  but 
only  select  a  fevv,  out  of  a  considerable  number.  And  I  shall 
begin  with  remarking — notwithstanding  the  sneers  with  which 
I  know  the  remark  has  been  treated — that  one  of  the  names  of 
the  true  God,  D'hSn  (Aleim,  or  Elohim)  which  is  very  fre- 
quently used  in  the  Old  Testament,  is  in  the  plural  number. 
Some  of  the  best  and  most  erudite  biblical  and  oriental  scho- 
lars, have  been  clearly  of  the  opinion,  that  the  frequent  use  of 
this  term  to  denote  the  true  God,  does  intimate,  and  was  in- 
tended to  intimate,  that  there  is  a  plurality  in  the  Godhead.* 

*  Those  who  deny  that  any  plurality  of  persons  is  intimated  in  the  Hebrew 
word  Meim,  have  lately  affected  to  look  down  on  the  opinions  of  their  oppo- 
nents as  the  tenets  only  of  ignorance  or  weakness  Yet  Bishop  Horsley, 
whose  erudition  and  intellectual  vigour  he  who  questions  will  only  implicate 
his  own,  is  among  those  who  maintain  that  a  plurality  in  the  Godhead  is  clear- 
ly intimated  in  this  word.  In  ''A  Critical  Disquisition  on  the  Etymology  and 
Import  of  the  Divine  Names,  Eloah,  Elohim,  El,  Jehovah,  and  Jah,"  he  says, 
"  tliat  whatever  may  be  the  etymology  of  these  two  words  {Eloah  emd  Elohim 
— written  without  points  jilue  and  Meim)  and  whatever  the  true  interpretation 
of  either,  it  cannot  be,  without  some  reason, — it  cannot  be,  as  some  have  pre- 
tended from  the  mere  caprice  of  language. — that  the  plural  word  is  much 
oftener  used  in  the  scriptures  as  a  name  of  God,  than  the  singular.  Thai  the 
plural  word  is  used  with  the  design  of  intimating  a  plurality  in  the  Godhead,  in 
some  respect  or  other,  it  is  strange  that  any  one  should  doubt,  who  has  ob- 
served that  it  is  used  in  places,  in  which,  if  there  be  in  truth  no  plurality  in  the 
Godhead,  the  inspired  writers  must  have  been  determined,  by  the  principles  of 
their  religion,  studiously  to  avoid  the  use  of  a  plural ;  especially  as  they  had 
singulars  at  command.  The  plural  is  used  in  that  very  precept,  which  prohi- 
bits the  worship  of  any  God  but  one.  '  I  Jehovah  am  thy  Gods,  thai  brought 
thee  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  out  of  the  house  of  bondage.'    '  Be  not  unto 

S 


138  LECTURES  ON  THE 

It  is  no  doubt  true,  that  this  word  is  occasionally  used  to  de- 
note inferior  beings,  and  even  the  false  gods  of  the  heathen. 
But  this  very  circumstance,  taken  in  connexion  with  the  man- 
ner  in  which  it  is  sometimes  applied  to  Jehovah,  the  God  of 
Israel,  seems  to  me  to  strengthen,  and  not  to  weaken  our  ar- 
gument. Thus  Hosea,  xiii.  4.,  literally  rendered,  is  thus — 
"I  am  Jehovah  thy  Aleim,  from  the  land  of  Egypt;  and 
thou  shalt  know  no  Aleim  but  me;  for  their  is  no  Saviour  be- 
side me."  Here  you  observe  that  Jehovah  and  Jileim,\s  is 
frequently  the  case,  are  joined  together.  Jehovah  denotes 
the  one  incommunicable  essence,  and  Aleim,  we  say,  denotes 
a  personal  plurality.  Then  the  sense  of  the  quoted  passage — 
and  it  surely  goes  powerfully  to  the  prophet's  purpose — will 
be  this.  "  I  am  Jehovah  the  one  true  God,  thy  Aleim — sub- 
sisting in  a  plurality  of  persons— who  brought  thee  out  of 
Egypt;  and  thou  shalt  have  no  Aleim  but  me; — thou  shalt 
have  no  other  object  of  worship,  and  no  plurality  in  the  ob- 
ject of  thy  worship,  but  that  plurality  which  exists  in  my  un- 
divided essence-^for  there  is  no  Saviour  beside  me."  There 
are  several  other  passages  of  the  Old  Testament,  to  which  si- 
milar remarks  might  be  applied. 

Thisword  JUeim,  is  in  the  original,  the  third  word  in  the 
Bible.     Our  translation  is — "  In  the  beginning  God  created 


thee,  other  Gods  beside  me;'  and  in  every  subsequent  part  of  the  decalogue, 
where  God  is  mentioned,  the  plural  word  is  introduced.  In  the  second  com- 
mandment, '  For  I  Jehovah  am  thy  Gods'  In  the  third,  '  Take  not  the  name 
of  Jehovah  thy  Gods  in  vain.'  In  the  fourth,  '  the  sabbath  of  Jehovah  thy 
Gods'  In  the  fifth,  '  The  land  which  Jehovah  thy  Gods  is  giving  thee.' 
Whoever  will  suppose  that  this  plural  appellation  of  God,  thus  constantly  used 
in  the  language  of  the  law,  which  of  all  languages  should  be  the  most  precise 
and  accmr.le, — thus  used  in  laws  asserting  and  upholding  the  single  deity  of 
the  God  ox  Israel — has  no  reference  to  the  plurality  of  persons  in  the  Godhead, 
should  be  able  to  demonstrate  some  other  plurality  in  the  Godhead,  to  which 
the  expression  may  refer.''  Again  :  after  showing  the  absurdity  of  the  suppo- 
sition of  certain  writers,  Christian  and  Jewish,  "  that  this  plural  word  is  used 
for  honours  sake, "  Horsley  remarks — "  We  have,  however,  the  admission  of 
this  learned  Jewish  grammarian  (Aben  Ezra),  that  deep  mystery  is  involved 
in  the  plural  form  of  the  divine  name  Elohim.  What  mystery  that  may  be, 
but  some  plurality  in  the  Godhead,  it  is  not  easy  to  divine.  One  cannot  but 
suspect,  that  it  is  to  avoid  a  confession  of  the  Christian  doctrines,  that  he  pre- 
tends to  help  us  over  the  difficulty,  by  alleging  a  plurality,  not  in  God,  but  in 
external  things.  But  we  have  a  right  to  challenge  those  who  follow  him  in 
this  admission,  to  allege  some  other  plurality  in  God  himself,  than  that  of  the 
persoi^s,  to  which  the  word  may  allude." 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  1 1^^ 

the  heavens  and  the  earth."  Now  we  have  seen  in  the  last 
lecture,  that  creation  is  attributed  both  to  the  Son  and  Spirit: 
and  the  selection  of  this  word  seems  to  be  made  with  striking 
propriety,  to  intimate  that  the  several  persons  in  the  God- 
head, were  concerned  in  this  great  work  of  creation.  Scott, 
in  his  commentary,  has  fully  and  distinctly  expressed  my 
own  views  of  this  subject.  He  says — ''  It  is  well  known  that 
the  original  word  commonly  translated  God,  is  plural,  in  a 
language  which  has  three  numbers;  and  that  when  thus  used, 
it  is  joined  to  singular  verbs  *****  This  grammatical  ano- 
maly, at  the  very  opening  of  the  scriptures,  seems  to  give  us 
some  intimation,  concerning  that  mystery  which  is  after- 
wards more  fully  revealed,  natnely,  the  Plurality  in  the 
Unity  of  the  Godhead.  It  would  indeed  be  improper  to  re^^ 
such  a  doctrine  upon  these  intimations;  yet  this  should  not 
be  rejected  as  a  mere  verbal  criticism." 

But  beside  what  is  intimated  in  the  plural  form  of  the  He- 
brew word,  which  our  translators  have  commonly  rendered 
God^ — as  they  have  almost  uniformly  rendered  Jehovah 
Lord^ — there  are  several  passages  in  which  the  Deity  speaks 
explicitly  of  himself  in  the  plural  form.  Thus,  Gen.  iii.  22. 
"The  Lord  God  said" — in  the  original — "Jehovah  Aleim 
said — Behold  the  man  is  become  as  one  of  us,  to  know  good 
and  evil."  "  The  expression  become  as  one  of  us  (says 
Scott)  emphatically  denotes  the  plurality  of  persons  in  the 
Deity."  To  which  I  add,  that  by  considering  the  terms  Je- 
hovah and  Aleim  in  the  manner  already  noticed,  we  may 
see  a  peculiar  propriety  and  strength  in  the  expression  :  For 
then  it  will  read  as  if  it  had  been  said — "  The  one  eternal 
God — subsisting  in  a  plurality  of  persons — said,  behold  the 
man  is  become  as  one  of  W5."  The  same  form  of  expression 
is  used  when  man  was  created  :  "  God  said" — in  the  original 
— "  The  Aleim  said,  let  us  make  man  in  our  own  image."  In 
like  manner,  at  the  confusion  of  tongues  at  Babel,  Gen.  xi.  7, 
it  is  said,  "  Go  to,  let  us  go  down,  and  confound  their  lan- 
guages." 

Thus,  then,  we  see  that  in  the  Old  Testament,  and  in  the 


140  LECTURES  ON  THE 

very  first  book  of  it,  there  is  a  clear  indication,  both  of  unity 
^nd plurality  in  the  Godhead.  We  shall  now  see,  that  in  the 
same  part  of  the  sacred  volume,  there  are  sufficient  indica- 
tions of  the  nature  and  extent  of  this  plurality  :  For  it  is  one 
thing  to  know  that  there  are  distinctions,  and  another  to 
know  what  is  the  number  of  those  distinctions.  There  are 
several  remarkable  passages  in  the  Old  Testament,  which  we 
believe  show  with  sufficient  clearness,  the  truth  of  what  our 
catechism  asserts,  that  "  there  are  three  Persons  in  the  God- 
head.'^ Isaiah  xlviii.  16,  **  And  now,  the  Lord  God,  and  his 
Spirit,  hath  sent  wze."  On  this,  and  several  similar  passages, 
the  author  of  that  pious  and  learned  work  entitled  Horae  Soli- 
tariae,  remarks — '*  Here  are  three  distinct  persons,  engaged 
in  one  work  and  declaration.  The  person  speaking  by  the 
prophet,  is  the  person  sent ;  and  styles  himself,  just  before, 
The  First  and  Last.  In  a  preceding  chapter,  this  First 
and  Last,  is  called  Jehovah  the  Redeemer,  and  Jehovah  Sa- 
baoth,  which  last  name  is  applicable  on  no  account,  Arians 
themselves  being  judges,  but  to  the  Supreme  God.  Nor  is 
the  grammatical  construction  of  the  text  to  be  unnoticed.  It 
is  not  said,  the  Lord  God  and  his  Spirit  have  sent,  in  the  plu- 
ral number; — but  hath  sent,  in  the  singular  number;  there- 
by intimating,  the  unity  of  the  divine  nature,  in  the  plurality 
of  persons."  Again — '-  By  the  Word  of  the  Lord  (i.  e.  Je- 
hovah) were  the  heavens  made,  and  all  the  hosts  of  them,  by 
the  breath  (i.  e.  the  Spirit)  of  his  mouth."  Here  again  are 
three  persons  co-operating  to  one  effect;  the  Word,  which  is 
Christ;  the  Lord,  another  person,  who  can  only  be  the 
Father;  and  the  Spirit,  a  third  person."  Again — ''The 
Spirit  of  the  Lord  God  is  upon  me,  because  the  Lord  hath 
anointed  me,"  &c.  The  speaker  here  is  the  Anointed  One, 
or  Christ;  who,  when  he  appeared  in  the  flesh,  applied  this 
very  text  to  himself:  And  the  other  persons  are  styled  the 
Spirit  and  the  Lord:  And  that  this  Lord  or  Jehovah  de- 
notes the  Father,  is  also  collected  from  two  passages  in  the 
New  Testament.  Acts  iv.  21,  and  x.  8.  Again,  Isaiah  vi. 
3,  "And  one  cried  unto  another  and  said,  Holy,  holy,  holy, 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  141 

is  the  Lord  of  hosts."  The  very  Rabbins,  before  Christ, 
could  assert  that  by  this  Trisagion,  or  thrice  Holy,  were  to 
be  understood  the  three  persons,  or  Saphiroth^  in  Jehovah. 
It  is  not  an  idle  repetition,  or  ascription  of  holiness  ;  but  a  ce- 
lebration of  the  proper  holiness  and  divinity  of  the  three  hy- 
postases in  the  Lord  of  hosts.  Nor,  as  St.  Jerom  justly  ob- 
serves, is  the  frequent  declaration  of  "  I  am  the  God  of  Abra- 
ham, and  the  God  of  Isaac,  and  the  God  of  Jacob,"  without 
its  meaning:;  but  the  three-fold  repetition  intimates  the  Tri- 
oity;  and  the  reiteration  of  the  same  name — Aleim — denotes 
the  unity  of  substance."  By  comparing  these,  and  many 
other  texts,  of  the  Old  Testament,  with  those  of  the  New; 
any  candid  person  may  be  satisfied,  that  both  Testaments  con- 
cur, in  asserting  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity;  and  that  be- 
lievers, both  under  the  patriarchal  and  legal  economy,  w^ere 
not  left  in  the  dark,  respecting  so  important  an  article  of  their 
faith  and  salvation."* 

Witsius  remarks — "  It  is  above  all  things  necessary,  for 
the  perfection  of  the  human  nature,  to  be  well  acquainted 
with  what  it  ought  to  know  and  believe,  concerning  its  God. 
And  it  may  be  justly  doubted,  whether  he  does  not  worship 
a  God  entirely  unknown,  nay,  whether  he  at  all  worships  the 
true  God,  who  does  not  know  and  worship  him  as  subsisting 
in  three  persons.  He  who  represents  God  to  himself  in  any 
other  light,  represents  not  God  to  himself,  but  a  phantom  of 
his  own  brain.  Epiphanius  seems  to  have  had  this  argument 
in  view,  when  he  thus  wrote  of  Adam — "  He  was  no  idolater; 
for  he  knew  God  the  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Spirit:  And  he 
was  a  prophet,  and  knew  that  the  Father  said  to  the  Son — let 
us  make  man.  It  is  absurd  to  suppose  Adam  ignorant,  con- 
cerning his  Creator,  of  what  God  does  not  suffer  his  posterity 
to  be  ignorant  at  this  time  ;  and  the  rather,  since  God  created 
man  to  be  the  herald  of  his  being  and  perfections  to  the  new 
world."  Thus  far  Witsius — one  of  the  most  pious,  best  read, 
and  profound  divines  that  ever  wrote. 

•ir 
^  Horae  Sol.  vol.  i.  pp.  25, 26. 


142  LECTURES  ON  THE 

Certain  it  is,  that  there  is  o:reat  reason  to  believe  that  even 
the  heathen  nations — the  Egyptians,  Babylonians,  Persians, 
Phoenicians,  Indians,  Greeks  and  Romans — had  by  tradition, 
or  b}"  an  imperfect  knowledo;e  of  the  Hebrew  scriptures,  some 
notices  of  this  doctrine.  There  are  strong  indications  of  it 
remaining  in  India  and  Egypt,  even  at  this  time.  I  shall  only 
just  remark,  that  the  denial  of  this  doctrine  by  the  modern 
Jews,  is  by  no  means  an  evidence  against  its  truth.  We 
know  that  before,  and  at  the  time  of  our  Saviour's  appear- 
ance in  the  world,  they  had  become  extremely  ignorant  of  the 
real  import  of  their  own  scriptures.  Hence  their  obstinate  ad- 
herence to  the  expectation  that  the  Messiah  would  be  a  great 
temporal  prince.  Hence  their  being  confounded  with  our  Sa- 
viour's question — how  could  the  Messiah  be  both  the  hard 
and  the  Son  of  David?  Had  ihey  known  the  truth,  they 
would  have  answered  promptly,  that  the  Messiah  as  God 
was  David's  Lord,  and  that  as  man  he  was  David's  son — 
The  only  satisfactory  answer,  by  the  way,  that  could  be 
given,  either  then  or  now,  to  this  remarkable  question  of 
Christ.  Since  the  time  of  Christ,  the  Jews  have  become 
more  blind  and  ignorant  than  their  progenitors  were,  of  the 
truths  of  their  own  scriptures.  Maimonides — one  of  the  best 
and  most  learned  of  them — as  referred  to  by  the  author  of  Ho- 
rae  Solitarise,  says,  "That  many  excellent  truths  of  religion, 
which  formerly  were  in  his  nation,  are  quite  lost  among 
them,  partly  through  length  of  time,  partly  through  the  con- 
quest of  their  enemies,  and  partly  because  they  were  not  suf- 
fered to  be  generally  or  indiscriminately  known  among  them- 
selves. And  he  points  out  the  whole,  as  the  fulfilment  of 
that  prophecy,  Isa.  xxix.  14,  "  That  the  wisdom  of  their 
wise  men  shall  perish,  and  the  understanding  of  their  pru- 
dent men  shall  be  hid  ;  because  of  their  sins." 

But  although,  as  we  have  seen,  there  is  evidence  that  this 
truth  was  known  and  acknowledged  by  the  people  of  God, 
even  from  the  time  of  our  first  parents,  yet  doubtless,  like 
other  i'^s-poi'tant  revealed  truths,  it  is  made  more  clear  and 
prominent  in  the  New  Testament  than  in  the  Old.     It  cer- 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  143 

tainly  was  distinctly  manifested  at  our  Lord's  baptism.  Matt, 
iii.  16,  17.  "And  Jesus,  when  he  was  baptized,  went  up 
straightway  out  of  the  water:  and  lo,  the  heavens  were  open- 
ed unto  him,  and  he  saw  the  Spirit  of  God  descending,  like  a 
dove,  and  lighting  upon  him.  And  lo,  a  voice  from  heaven, 
saying.  This  is  my  beloved  Son,  in  whom  I  am  well  pleased.'' 
Here  we  have  distinctly,  the  Father  speaking  in  an  audible 
voice  from  heaven,  bearing  witness  to  Christ  as  his  Son^  on 
whom  the  Spirit,  at  the  same  time,  descends  like  a  dove. 
This  was  clearly  "a  manifestation  of  the  three  persons  in  the 
sacred  Trinity,  acting  in  their  proper  relations,  according  to 
the  economy  of  our  redemption — The  Father  appointing  and 
sealing  the  Son,  to  be  the  Mediator;  the  Son  solemnly  accept- 
ing the  designation,  and  entering  on  his  work  ;  and  the  Holy 
vSpirit  descending  on  him,  as,  through  his  mediation,  commu- 
nicated to  his  people,  to  apply  his  salvation  to  their  souls." 
(Scott  in  loc.) 

Again:  Eph.  ii.  18 — "  For  through  Him  (i.  e.  Christ)  we 
both  (i.  e.  Jews  and  Gentiles)  have  an  access  by  one  Spirit, 
unto  the  Father.^^  Here,  as  before,  we  have  the  three  per- 
sons in  the  Holy  Trinity — Father,  Son,  and  Spirit,  and  all 
are  represented  as  concerned  in  every  act  of  acceptable 
worship. — The  Father,  to  whom  we  have  access ;  the  Son,  as 
Mediator,  by  and  through  whom  we  must  approach  him  ;  and 
the  Spirit,  by  whose  gracious  aid  and  influence  alone,  that  ap- 
proach can  be  acceptably  made.  How  fearful  then — let  me 
remark  in  passing — how  fearful  is  it,  to  attempt  to  approach 
to  God,  in  any  other  way  than  this  which  he  has  appointed. 

Again:  The  form  of  Christian  baptism,  appointed  by  our 
Lord  himself,  does  appear  to  me,  in  the  most  conclusive 
manner,  to  settle  this  question  of  the  Trinity,  as  a  doctrine 
of  the  Nevv  Testament.  The  ministers  of  the  gospel,  to  the 
end  of  the  world,  are  commanded  to  baptize,  in  "  the  name 
of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost.''  Bap- 
tism is  the  initiating  ordinance  of  the  Christian  church.  It  is 
the  ordinance  which,  according  to  the  divine  appointment, 
formally  constitutes  us  Christians.     It  is  the  ordinance  in 


144  LECTURES  ON  THE 

which  the  party  baptized  is  solemnly  devoted  to  the  God  of 
Christians,  and  set  apart  to  his  service.  Now  to  suppose 
that  in  this  sacred  rite,  the  true  God — the  Father — is  named, 
and  put  on  a  footing;  of  equality,  with  two  other  inferior  be- 
ings, or  attributes  of  his  nature — the  Son  and  the  Holy  Ghost 
— is,  to  my  apprehension,  the  height  both  of  absurdity  and 
impiety.  It  cannot  be,  my  dear  youth.  God  does  not,  and 
has  declared  that  he  will  not,  give  his  glory  to  another.  No, 
it  is  not  another — the  Father,  Son,  and  Ho/i/  Ghost,  are  the 
three  coequal,  coeternal  persons,  of  that  one,  only,  living, 
and  true  God,  in  whose  name  you  were  baptized,  and  to 
whom  you  are  privileged  to  be  engaged  by  covenant — This 
is  the  covenant  God  of  you,  and  your  fathers. 

There  is  one  circumstance  in  regard  to  this  subject,  which 
has  deeply  impressed  my  mind.  It  is,  the  manifestation  of 
the  adorable  Trinity,  which  we  have  already  noticed,  at  our 
Saviour's  own  baptism,  corresponding  with  the  form  in  which 
he  has  required  all  his  disciples  to  be  baptized.  It  behoved 
Him  "  in  all  things  to  be  made  like  unto  his  brethren." 
.John's  baptism,  it  is  evident  from  Acts  xix.  2,  was  not  ad- 
ministered in  the  name  of  the  Trinity;  and  yet  when  it  was 
administered  to  our  Redeemer,  the  Trinity  was  manifested. 
Compare  this  with  what  he  has  ordered,  as  the  form  of  bap- 
tism for  his  disciples,  and  say  if,  in  this  as  in  other  things, 
there  is  not  an  affecting  and  endearing  resemblance,  between 
the  head  of  the  church  and  his  members.  And  say  too,  if  it 
do  not  afford  a  strong  presumption,  that  the  very  Trinity  of 
persons  in  the  Godhead,  which  was  so  conspicuous  at  the 
baptism  of  Christ,  is  that  in  whose  name  he  has  commanded 
all  who  belong  to  him  to  be  baptized.  Yes;  to  that  same 
Trinity  which  was  manifested  at  his  baptism,  he  has  enjoined 
that  we  shall  be  consecrated  in  our  baptism. 

Once  more.  The  form  of  apostolical  benediction,  is  of  ex- 
actly the  same  import  with  the  form  of  baptism.  2  Cor.  xii. 
14 — *'  The  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  love  of 
God,  and  the  communion  of  the  Holi/  Ghost,  be  with  you 
all. — Amen."    Here  indeed,  there  is  a  new  indication  of  the 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  145 

equality  of  persons  in  the  Godhead.  The  second  person,  the 
Son^  is  mentioned  the  first  in  order.  We  cannot  suppose 
that  this  was  done,  under  the  guidance  of  divine  inspiration, 
by  oversight,  or  without  an  important  design:  And  what  de- 
sign could  there  be,  but  to  intimate  that  it  was  no  derogation 
from  the  First  person  in  the  Trinity,  the  eternal  Father^ 
that  his  coequal  Son^  should,  in  this  instance,  be  named 
first?  But  to  imagine  that  a  human  being,  or  a  super-ange- 
lick  being,  should  take  precedence  of  his  Maker,  and  that 
grace  proceeding  from  this  creature,  should  be  conjoined  with 
the  love  of  God^  and  the  communion  of  the  Holy  Ghost; 
and  that  the  church  should  be  blessed,  first  in  the  name  of 
a  creature,  and  then  of  God,  and  then  of  a  divine  attribute 
— can  any  thing  be  imagined  more  incongruous,  or  more 
shocking?  Beyond  all  peradventure,  as  in  baptism  the 
three  persons  in  the  undivided  Godhead  are  taken  in  as 
the  object  of  worship  and  obedience,  so  in  this  benedic- 
tion, they  are  plainly  conjoined  as  the  source  of  bles- 
sedness. Here  then  I  terminate  the  scripture  evidence 
of  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity.  And  I  do  it  without  any 
reliance,  you  may  perceive,  on  that  much  controverted  text, 
1  John  V.  7.  "  There  are  three  that  bear  record  in  heaven. 
The  Father,  the  Word,  and  the  Holy  Ghost;  and  these 
three  are  one."  I  certainly  am  not  prepared  to  surrender  this 
passage  as  a  portion  of  the  revealed  truth  of  God ;  but  it  is 
well  known  that  there  is  real  doubt  about  the  authenticity  of 
this  text,  among  those  who  have  no  doubt  at  all  about  the 
doctrine  of  the  Trinity.  And  to  rely  on  a  dubious  text, 
which  the  support  of  the  truth  does  not  require,  is  really  to 
injure  a  good  cause;  because  whatever  goes  to  disprove  the 
authenticity  of  the  text,  is  often  considered,  however  unjust- 
ly, as  going  to  disprove  the  truth  of  the  doctrine.  But  in 
reality,  the  truth  of  the  doctrine  does  not  in  any  measure  de- 
pend on  the  genuineness  of  this  text.  Nay,  it  does  not  de- 
pend on  any  one  text  in  the  Bible,  taken  singly — It  is  inter- 
^voven,  as  I  have  shown  you,  with  the  whole  of  the  revealed 

T 


146  LECTURES  ON  THE 

system;  it  is  the  main  thread  that  runs  through,  supports, 
and  gives  strength  and  uniformity,  to  the  entire  piece. 

We  now  proceed — 

III.  To  give  explanations,  offer  cautions,  and  answer  objec- 
tions, relative  to  the  important  and  interesting  subject  of  the 
Trinity  of  persons  in  the  unity  of  the  Godhead.  It  is  not  my 
intention,  however,  to  take  up  the  several  items  here  speci- 
fied, in  a  separate  and  formal  manner;  but  only  to  make  a 
very  few  general  remarks  that  may  be  applied  to  the 
whole.  You  will  carefully  observe  then,  that  while  we 
strenuously  contend  for  the  truth,  as  an  essential  of  reli- 
gion, that  there  are  three  persons  in  the  undivided  Ged- 
head,  we  attempt  no  explanation  whatever,  of  the  manner  in 
which  this  Trinity  in  unity  subsists  in  the  divine  essence. 
We  believe  this  to  be  a  mystery,  the  depth  of  which  the 
angels  in  heaven  cannot  fathom.  Of  this  indeed,  as  well  as 
of  all  other  things  that  relate  to  God,  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  not  only  the  angels,  but  the  glorified  spirits  of  the  saints, 
know  more — far  more — in  the  heavenly  world,  than  ever  has 
been  known  in  this.  But  "  who  by  searching  can  find  out 
God?  Who  can  find  out  the  Almighty  unto  perfection?'* 
No  creature  can  ever  do  it.  God  is  perfectly  known  only  to 
himself — and  will  be  so  to  all  eternity.  It  will  be  the  hap- 
piness of  creatures  to  be  continually  learning  more  of  God: 
and  yet  that  there  shall  forever  be  still  more  to  learn.  Ne- 
ver, my  dear  youth,  never  attempt,  even  in  your  own  minds, 
to  explain  or  comprehend  the  modus,  or  the  manner,  in  which 
the  unity  and  personality  of  the  Deity  are  constituted.  Get 
clear  and  consistent  ideas  of  the  facts,  and  of  the  use  to  be 
made  of  these  facts;  and  make  a  constant,  yea  a  daily  use  of 
them,  in  prayer  and  in  communion  with  God;  but  go  no  fur- 
ther. Avoid  making  comparisons — as  has  sometimes  most 
improperly  been  done — with  a  view  to  explain  how  three 
may  be  one,  and  one  three,  in  the  divine  essence. 

I  hold  it  indeed  not  to  be  improper,  and  shall  presently 
give  an  example,  to  show  that  m  things  far  more  likely  to  be 
within  our  comprehension  than  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity, 


SHORTER  CATECHISM,  147 

we  are  perfectly  at  a  loss ;  and  therefore  that  it  is  not  won- 
derful that  we  should  be  so,  in  regard  to  this  doctrine.  But 
it  will  be  far  from  my  purpose  to  intimate — for  I  hold  that  it 
ought  never  to  be  intimated — that  the  mode  or  manner  of  the 
divine  subsistence,  has  any  resemblance  to  that  of  creatures. 
We  have  no  warrant  to  afllrm  or  to  think  this;  and  it  is 
always  dangerous  to  form  comparisons  or  illustrations  that 
imply  it.  In  all  such  cases,  men  certainly  speak  of  what 
they  do  not  and  cannot  comprehend.  Yet  it  is  so  far  from 
being  any  objection  to  the  credibility  of  this  doctrine,  that  it 
is  unsearchable  by  us,  that  this  very  circumstance  is  a  pre- 
sumption in  its  favour.  Dr.  George  Campbell,  than  whom, 
on  such  subjects,  I  know  of  no  higher  uninspired  authority, 
has  well  remarked — "  Unsearchableness  to  human  faculties, 
is  a  sort  of  signature,  impressed  on  the  works  of  the  Most 
High,  and  which  when  found  in  any  thing  attested  as  from 
Him,  ought  to  be  held,  at  least,  a  presumption  in  favour  of 
the  testimony.''  Yes,  whenever  we  speak  of  God,  we  always 
speak  of  what  is  unsearchable  to  mortals. 

The  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  is  not  at  all  more  incompre^ 
hensible,  than  the  doctrine  of  the  eternal  existence  of  God. 
An  uncaused  cause  of  all  other  causes,  is  what  completely 
baffles  all  human  examination  and  human  comprehension ; 
And  it  has  actually  led  some  to  atheism ; — not  aware,  as  it 
would  seem,  that  atheism  is  absolutely  contrary  to  all  rea« 
son  and  common  sense;  whereas  the  difficulty  they  pretended 
to  avoid,  was  not  contrary  to  reason,  but  only  above  and  be- 
yond it.  It  does  seem  to  me,  that  those  who  deny  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Trinity,  while  they  believe  in  revelation,  act  in 
a  manner  very  similar.  To  get  rid  of  what  they  think  a  dif- 
ficulty, they  are  obliged  to  treat  the  revealed  will  of  God  in 
a  manner  which,  to  my  apprehension,  is  absolutely  inconsis- 
tent with  the  supposition  that  it  is  a  divine  revelation.  While 
they  hold  to  the  Bible,  and  yet  reject  the  Trinity,  they  seem 
to  have  the  hardest  creed  of  all  believers. 

I  know  indeed,  that  they  have  sometimes  affirmed  that  we 
hold,  on  this  subject,  what  is  not  only  above  reason  but  di- 


148  LECTURES  ON  THE 

rectly  contradictory  to  it :  And  if  we  would  allow  Ihem  to 
make  a  statement  for  us,  it  might  really  be  so.     They  affirm 
that  it  is  absolutely  contradictory  to  reason  that  one  should 
be  three,  and  that  three  should  be  one ;  and  that  this  is  the 
doctrine  which  Trinitarians  hold.     But  this  is  in  reality  no- 
thing better  than  a  wretched  quibble,  a  play  upon  words,  that 
may  deceive  the  unthinking,  but  which  cannot  for  a  moment 
be  maintained  against  a  fair  statement;  and  I  think  that  of 
late,  the  ablest  Anti-trinitarian  writers  have  ceased  to  use  it. 
"We  do  not  say  that  there  are  three  Gods  and  yet  one  God; 
three  persons  and  yet  one  person;  or  that  the  Divine  Being 
is  three  in  the  same  sense  and  respect  that  he  is  one ;  but 
only  that  there  is  a  distinction,  consistent   with  a  perfect 
unity  of  nature."*     In  this  there  is  nothing  contradictory  to 
reason,  or  inconsistent  with  it.     I  believe  that  every  indivi- 
dual who  now  hears  me,  is  a  being  composed  of  three  princi- 
ples— a  body^  which  by  itself  is  lifeless  matter;  a  soul,  or 
system  of  animal  spirits,  which   animates  this  matter,  and 
which  we  have  in  common  with  the  brutes;  and  an  immate- 
rial and   immortal  spirit,  which  is,  I  know  not  how,  con- 
nected with  the  other  two  principles;  and  that  all  together 
constitute  one  rational  and  accountable  creature.     This  is  a 
very  old  opinion ;  and  Doddridge  supposes  it  is  referred  to 
by  St.  Paul,  when  he  prays  that  "the  body,  soul,  and  spirit" 
of  his  Christian  brethren,  may  be  preserved  and  sanctified* 
Now,  is  there  any  thing  irrational,  or  self-contradictory,  in 
my  holding  the  individuality  of  every  human  being,  and  yet 
holding  that  there  are  three  distinct  principles,  in  every  such 
being?     Surely   not.     Neither  can  I  at  all  explain  or  com- 
prehend, how  these  three  distinct  principles  are  connected 
together,  so  as  to  make  one  individual.     I  only  know  the 
fact.     And  is  it — I  ask  most  solemnly — is  it  wonderful,  that 
we  cannot  explain  or  comprehend  the  manner  oi  our  Maker's 
existence,  when  we  cannot  explain  or  understand  the  man- 
ner of  our  own  existence ! — I  again  remind  you  distinctly, 

*  Witherspoon. 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  149 

that  this  illustration  is  intended  only  to  show,  that  it  is  not 
unreasonable  for  us  to  believe  what  we  cannot  explain  and 
comprehend,  in  the  manner  of  the  divine  existence ;  and  by 
no  means  to  intimate  that  the  three  principles  of  our  nature, 
have  the  least  imaginable  resemblance  to  the  three  distinc- 
tions in  the  divine  nature.  God  forbid!  His  nature  is  in  all 
respects,  infinitely  different  and  superior  to  that  of  any  crea- 
ture. When  we  contemplate  it,  especially  with  reference  to 
this  subject,  it  is  peculiarly  incumbent  on  us  to  lay  the  rein 
on  our  fancy  and  imagination;  to  keep  close  to  the  truth  as 
revealed  in  holy  scripture;  to  be  humble,  admire,  and  adore. 
I  have  long  thought  that,  making  some  allowance  for  his 
known  peculiarity  of  manner,  there  is  much  that  is  worthy 
of  regard  in  the  following  quotation  from  Dr.  Jeremy  Tay- 
lor, with  which  I  shall  conclude  this  part  of  our  subject. 
"  He  (says  Dr.  Taylor) — He  that  goes  about  to  speak  of  the 
mystery  of  the  Trinity,  and  does  it  by  words  and  names  of 
man's  invention,  talking  of  essences  and  existences,  hypos- 
tases and  personalities,  priorities  in  coequalities,  &c.,  and 
unity  in  pluralities;  may  amuse  himself  and  build  a  taberna- 
cle in  his  head,  and  talk  something  he  knows  not  what:  but 
the  good  man,  that  feels  the  power  of  the  Father,  and  to 
whom  the  Son  is  become  wisdom,  sanctification  and  redemp- 
tion, in  whose  heart  the  love  of  the  Spirit  of  God  is  shed 
abroad,  this  man,  though  he  understands  nothing  of  what  is 
unintelligible,  yet  he  alone  truly  understands  the  Christian 
doctrine  of  the  Trinity." 

IV.  It  remains  to  make  a  few  inferences  of  a  practical 
kind,  from  what  has  been  said  on  this  subject.     And — 

1.  If  a  right  view  has,  in  any  tolerable  degree,  been  given 
of  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  ; — if  it  runs  through  the  entire 
volume  of  inspiration,  and  gives  character  and  consistency  to 
the  whole;  then  certainly  we  must  regard  it,  represent  it, 
and  hold  it  fast,  as  an  essential — in  the  strictest  sense  an  es- 
sential article  of  the  Christian  faith. 

In  every  system  there  must  be  essential  principles  which 
give  character  to  that  system,  as  a  system.     Deny  those 


150  LECTURES  ON  THE 

principles,  and  you  deny  the  system.  A  name  may  remain; 
but  the  reality  is  gone.  Now  if  there  be  any  such  thing  as 
essential  principles  in  the  Christian  system,  we  do  believe 
that  this  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  must  be  regarded  as  such. 
All  the  grand  and  distinguishing  doctrines  of  Christian- 
ity, stand  or  fall  with  this  doctrine.  They  must  do  so, 
for  the  most  of  them  rest  entirely  upon  it.  Accordingly, 
those  who  deny  it,  deny  the  original  and  radical  corruption 
of  human  nature;  the  atonement  and  righteousness  of  Christ, 
as  the  only  ground  of  our  justification  before  God;  the  neces- 
sity of  a  supernatural  renovation  by  the  Spirit  of  God;  our 
need  of  his  special  aid  in  all  religious  duties;  and  of  his  sanc- 
tifying influences  in  our  preparation  for  heaven.  But  re- 
move these  truths  from  the  revealed  system,  and  we  verily 
believe  that  you  remove  its  very  essence — you  take  away  its 
essential  character. 

We  certainly  ought  to  have  no  pleasure,  and  God  forbid 
that  we  should  have  any — yea,  that  we  should  feel  any  thing 
but  sincere  regret  and  sorrow — in  refusing  to  embrace  as 
Christians,  any  who  denominate  themselves  such.  But  in 
this  matter  we  cannot  sacrifice  truth — essential  truth — to 
courtes}^,  or  to  a  false  notion  of  liberality  or  charity.  No 
truly — the  solemn  alternative  is,  we  must  either  give  up  all 
our  own  hopes,  or  we  must  give  up  as  Christians,  in  any 
thing  but  name,  those  who  understandingly  and  really  deny 
this  doctrine.  A  variety  in  the  method  of  explaining  it,  and 
in  the  circumstantials  of  it,  ought  not  to  exclude  any  one  from 
our  charity.  But  such  a  denial  as  carries  with  it  a  rejec- 
tion of  those  great  doctrines  and  principles  which,  as  we 
have  just  seen,  are  grounded  on  it — this  is  fundamental— 
This  subverts  the  very  foundation  of  the  Christian  system. 

But,  my  young  friends,  do  not  hold  this  doctrine,  nor  any 
other,  as  a  favourite  topick  of  controversy.  It  has  been  well 
observed,  that  *'  disputes  about  religion  and  the  practice  of 
it,  seldom  go  together."  Cleave  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Tri- 
nity for  yourselves — cleave  to  it  as  the  anchor  of  your  souls; 
hut  indulge  no  acrimony,  no  hostile  temper,  toward  those 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  151 

who  deny  it.  Beware  of  their  delusions,  compassionate  their 
fatal  errors,  reason  with  them  temperately ;  but  never  forget 
that  they  are  your  fellow  men  and  fellow  sinners;  and  pray 
much  that  God  may  enlighten  them,  and  bring  them  to  the 
knowledge  of  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  that  they  may  be 
saved. 

2.  Finally — Inquire  most  seriously,  whether  you  have — 
or  have  not — made  that  practical  use  and  application  of  this 
great  and  essential  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  which  renders  the 
belief  of  it  so  important.  In  vain  do  you  hold  the  truth,  if 
you  hold  it  in  unrighteousness.  Have  you  then  devoted  your- 
selves, by  your  own  act,  to  that  Father,  Son,  and  Holy 
Ghost,  to  whom  you  were  devoted  in  baptism?  Have  you 
voluntarily,  deliberately,  and  solemnly,  chosen  this  God  as 
your.  God,  and  entered  into  covenant  with  him  as  such? 
Have  you  been  reconciled  to  God,  through  Jesus  Christ,  by 
the  operation  of  the  Holy  Spirit?  Think  you,  that  you  have 
been  renewed  in  the  temper  of  your  minds,  by  the  power  of 
the  Holy  Ghost?  Have  you,  in  view  of  your  undone  state 
as  sinners,  rested  by  faith  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  as  all 
your  salvation  and  all  your  desire?  Are  you  living  in  daily 
communion  with  God — drawing  near  to  him,  through  the 
mediation  of  his  Son,  and  by  his  Spirit's  gracious  aid?  And 
are  you  manifesting  yourselves  to  be  the  disciples  of  Christ, 
by  walking  as  he  walked,  and  obeying  all  his  command- 
ments? These  are  inquiries  of  the  most  solemn  import. 
Happy  they  who  can  answer  them  satisfactorily.  Unhappy 
they  who  cannot  answer  thus. — Let  such  be  entreated  to  look 
without  delay  to  God,  through  Jesus  Christ,  for  his  Spirit's 
sacred  influence,  to  renew  them  unto  holiness,  and  to  enable 
them  to  believe  the  truth,  not  in  speculation  merel}^,  but  with 
all  the  heart,  to  the  saving  of  their  souls.     Amen. 


152  LECTURES  ON  THE 


LECTURE  X. 

What  are  the  decrees  of  God? 

The  subject  of  discussion  at  this  time,  is  the  seventh  an- 
swer in  our  Shorter  Catechism.     It  is  expressed  thus — 

^'  The  decrees  of  God  are  his  eternal  purpose,  according  to 
the  counsel  of  his  will,  whereby,  for  his  own  glory,  he  hath 
foreordained  whatsoever  comes  to  pass.'^ 

There  are  probably  few  present  who  need  to  be  informed, 
that  this  answer  presents  one  of  the  most  difficult,  and  most 
controverted  points  in  theology.  Yet  in  my  apprehension, 
the  chief  difficulty  has  always  arisen  from  the  reluctance 
which  many  feel  to  receive  as  truths  or  facts  in  religion, 
things  which  they  know  not  how  to  reconcile  or  explain. 
But  it  ought  to  be  recollected  that  we  do  this  in  things  of 
daily  occurrence,  and  with  which  we  are  most  familiar.  For 
example — how  matter  should  be  moved  by  that  which  is  ini- 
material — which  takes  place  continually,  when  the  volitions 
of  our  minds  produce  the  motions  of  our  limbs  and  of  our 
whole  bodies — is  quite  as  hard  to  explain  or  to  see  through, 
as  how  the  free  actions  of  moral  agents  should  consist  with, 
and  carry  into  effi^ct,  the  absolute  decrees  of  God.  We  are 
indeed  so  familiar  with  the  first  of  these  inexplicable  things, 
that  we  do  not  often  think  about  explaining  it;  but  when  we 
do,  we  find  it  attended  with  as  much  difficulty — it  as  com- 
pletely baffles  our  investigations — as  the  abstruse  inquiry  with 
which  we  have  compared  it. 

I  have  made  the  remarks  you  have  just  heard  at  the  very 
entrance  of  this  discussion,  in  hope  they  may  have  some  in- 
fluence in  preventing  a  prejudice  against  the  method  in  which 
I  propose  to  conduct  it;  and  in  which  alone,  I  am  fully  per- 
suaded, it  can  ever  be  satisfactorily  conducted.  That  all 
truth  is  really  consistent  with  itself,  or  that  every  truth  is 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  153 

perfectly  reconcilable  with  every  other  truth,  no  one  who 
knows  what  truth  is,  can  for  a  moment  doubt.  But  human 
intellect  is  not  competent  at  present  to  investigate  and  recon- 
cile all  that  is  true,  or  all  that  may  be  perfectly  easy  of  solu- 
tion to  beinjTs  of  hii:;her  powers.  Let  me  then  request  you  to 
remember,  that  the  manner  in  which  one  truth  agrees  or  is 
consistent  with  another,  is  often  unknown  to  us;  and  there- 
fore that  we  ought  never  to  resist  the  proper  evidence  by 
which  truili  is  ascertained,  because  we  see  not  how  it  is  to  be 
reconciled  with  something  else  which,  on  good  grounds,  we 
have  been  accustomed  to  receive  as  true.  When  truths  or 
facts  appear  to  militate  with  each  other,  it  is  indeed  a  reason 
why  they  should  be  repeatedly  and  most  closely  examined  on 
all  sides.  But  if,  after  such  examination,  the  things  which 
seem  to  militate  appear  to  be  accompanied  by  all  the  evidence 
necessary  to  establish  them  severally  as  truths  or  facts,  we 
ought  to  receive  them  as  such — especially  if  repeated  exami- 
nation serves  only  to  clear  and  strengthen  the  evidence.  It 
is  perfectly  reasonable  in  such  cases  to  say,  '"  here  are  two 
things,  both  of  which  appear  to  be  true;  both  supported  by 
evidence  which  obliges  me  to  admit  them  to  be  true;  yet 
hovv  they  are  reconcilable  I  cannot  for  the  present  perceive; 
although  I  cannot  doubt  that  they  are  reconcilable,  because 
both  are  truths." — Satisfied,  as  I  am,  that  we  ought  to  pro- 
ceed in  this  way,  in  disposing  of  the  difficulties  which  belong 
to  the  subject  before  us,  I  apprize  you  at  once  of  my  views 
generally — they  will  be  more  fully  explained  and  applied  in 
the  close  of  the  discussion.     My  method  will  be, 

I.  To  eiideavour  to  ascertain  and  state  distinctly  the  doc- 
trine contained  in  this  answer. 

II.  To  prove  it  from  reason,  and  from  scripture. 

III.  Not  only  to  admit,  but  to  assert  and  vindicate  other 
truths,  with  which  the  doctrine  of  the  divine  decrees  may 
seem  to  be  in  conflict;  to  repel  the  false  allegations  which 
have  been  made,  in  regard  to  those  who  believe  in  the  abso- 
lute sovereignty  of  God;  and  to  show  in  what  manner  the  ap- 

u 


154  LECTURES  ON  THE 

parently  militating  truths,  relative  to  this  subject,  ought  to  be 
received  and  held 

First  then,  we  are  to  endeavour  to  ascertain  and  state  dis- 
tinctly, the  doctrine  contained  in  the  answer  before  us. 

The  word  decree,  or  decrees ^  in  the  sense  in  which  it  is 
used  in  this  answer,  is  not  found  in  the  New  Testament.     In 
the  Old  Testament,  the  word  occurs  in  several  instances,  and 
in  a  manner  which  might  be  supposed  to  be  the  same  as  that 
in  which  it  is  used  in  the  Catechism.     Yet  in  other  instances, 
it  will  be  found  that  the  same  original  word  is  rendered  sta- 
tute.    The  word  decree^  or  decrees^  therefore,  is  altogether  a 
technical  term,  adopted  by  theologians  to  convey  a  complex 
idea;  that  is,  to  convey  a  number  of  ideas  by  a  single  term. 
The  framers  of  the  Catechism  seem  to  have  been  fully  sensi- 
ble of  this,  for  the  express  design  of  the  answer  before  us  is 
to  explain  the  import  of  this  term,  or  rather  of  the  phrase — 
the  decrees  of  God;  and   they  go  on  to  do  it  in  language 
which  is  taken  from  the  scriptures.     They  define  the  decrees 
to  be — "  God's  eternal  purpose,"  formed  "  according  to  the 
counsel  of  his  own  will,  whereby,  for  his  own  glory,  he  hath 
foreonlained  whatsoever  comes  to  pass."     This  language  is 
all  purely  scriptural.     Whoever  will  carefully  read  over  the 
first  chapter  of  the  epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  will  there  find 
mentioned,  the  choice  and  purpose  of  God  before  the  foun- 
dation of  the  world — that  is,  from  eternity ;  and  that  it  is 
expressly  declared  that  believers  are  predestinated  to  their 
inheritance,  according  to  the  purpose  of  him  who  worketh 
all  things  after  the  counsel  of  his  own  will.    And  the  same 
apostle,  in  1  Cor.  ii.  7,  says — '^  We  speak  the  wisdom  of  God 
in  a  mystery,  even  the  hidden  wisdom,  which  God  ordained 
before  the  worlds  to  our  glory."    In  like  manner,  in  the  11th 
chapter  of  the  epistle  to  the  Romans,  after  exclaiming — "  0 
the  depth  of  the  riches,  both  of  the  wisdom  and  knowledge 
of  God  !  How  unsearchable  are  his  judgments,  and  his  ways 
past  finding  out!" — he  concludes  the  whole  with  declaring — 
"  For  of  him,  and  through  him,  and  to  him,  are  all  things : 
to  whom  be  glory  for  ever.    Amen." 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  155 

I  have  made  these  references  to  show  you  distinctly,  that 
the  explanation  given  in  our  Catechism  of  the  decrees  of  God, 
is  wholly  scriptural,  with  scarcely  a  departure  from  the  very 
words  of  inspiration.  The  phrase  *'  according  to  the  counsel 
of  his  own  will,"  taken  from  Ephes.  i.  11,  has,  I  find,  been 
thought  by  the  systematick  writers,  to  need  explanation. 
Ridgeley  says — "  We  are  not  hereby  to  understand  that  the 
decrees  of  God  are  the  result  of  deliberation,  or  his  debating 
matters  within  himself,  as  reasoning  in  his  own  mind  about 
the  expediency  or  inexpediency  of  things,  or  calling  in  the 
advice  of  others,  as  creatures  are  said  to  do,  when  acting  in 
councilj  for  he  must  not  be  supposed  to  determine  things  in 
such  a  way,  since  that  would  argue  an  imperfection  in  the  di- 
vine mind.  It  implies  that  his  decrees  are  infinitely  wise; 
as  what  is  done  with  counsel,  is  said,  according  to  human 
modes  of  speaking,  to  be  done  advisedly;  in  opposition  to  its 
being  done  rashly,  or  with  precipitation."  This  is  doubtless 
both  just  and  pertinent.  But  it  seems  to  me,  that  the  re- 
marks are  nearly  as  applicable  to  almost  all  the  other  terms 
and  phrases  which  are  used  in  this  answer,  and  which  are 
commonly  used  when  speaking  on  this  subject.  The  words 
decrees^  providence,  purpose,  ordaining,  predestinating, 
determining,  appointing,  and  the  like,  are  all  descriptive  of 
mental  acts;  which  acts,  when  they  relate  to  man,  must  not 
only  be  subsequent  to  his  existence,  but  to  many  other  men- 
tal acts  from  which  they  result.  But  the  whole  of  this  is 
utterly  inapplicable  to  the  Deity.  His  decrees,  providence, 
purpose,  ordination  and  predestination,  are  as  much  eternal 
as  his  existence. 

Perhaps  the  whole  difficulty  and  darkness  in  which  this 
subject  is  involved,  arises  from  our  having  neither  words  nor 
ideas,  which  are  more  than  very  imperfectly  applicable  to  it. 
We  are  obliged  to  use  terms  which  are  strictly  applicable 
only  to  ourselves,  and  far  from  being  so  with  regard  to  our 
Maker.  Succession,  both  as  to  time  and  thought,  is  insepa- 
rable from  all  that  is  done  by  a  human  individual.  But  suc- 
cession of  any  kind,  is  not  predicable  of  the  Deity.     When 


156  LECTURES  ON  THE 

we  speak  of  decrees,  in  the  plural  number,  we  do  not  mean 
that  he  decreed  one  thin^^  at  one  time,  and  another  after  a 
considerable  interval — or  after  any  interval  whatever.  We 
use  the  plural  form  in  this  expression,  because  the  innumera- 
ble events  that  take  place  in  time,  are  all  ordered  and  fixed 
by  the  divine  purpose  and  appointment,  as  much  as  if  each 
one  had  been  separately  the  subject  of  a  decree..  But  the 
purpose,  or  decree  of  God,  is  really  one,  simple,  undivided, 
act  of  his  will.  In  a  word,  the  following  lines  of  Dr.  Watts, 
appear  to  me  not  only  poetically  beautiful,  but  logically  cor- 
rect— 

"  Long  ere  the  lofty  skies  were  spread, 

Jehovah  filled  his  throne, 
Or  Adam  form'd,  or  angels  made, 

The  Maker  lived  alone. 

His  boundless  years  can  ne'er  decrease. 

But  still  maintain  their  prime ; 
Eternity's  his  dwelling  place, 

And  ever  is  his  time. 

While  like  a  tide  our  minutes  flow, 

The  present  and  the  past, 
He  fills  his  own  immortal  noio, 

And  sees  our  ages  waste." 

Having  thus  explained  the  terms  that  we  use  in  regard  to 
this  subject,  and  seen  that  in  their  application  to  it,  the  use  is 
not  strict,  but  accommodated  and  analogical,  I  would  state 
the  doctrine  before  us  thus — All  events,  of  whatever  kind, 
that  take  place  in  time,  were  determined,  or  foreordained  by 
God  from  all  eternity,  thus  to  take  place;  and  all  for  the 
ultimate  promotion  of  his  own  glory.  It  ought  however  to 
be  carefully  noted  here,  that  all  who  soundly  hold  this  doc- 
trine, maintain  that  there  is  a  difference,  always  to  be  kept 
up,  between  what  have  been  denominated  the  efficacious  de- 
crees, and  the  permissive  decrees  of  God.  His  efficacious 
decrees  relate  to  whatever  is  morally  good ;  his  permissive 
decrees,  to  whatever  is  morally  evil.  In  other  words,  his 
immediate  agency,  according  to  his  decree,  is  concerned  in 
whate  ver  is  morally  good— His  immediate  agency  is  never 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  157 

concerned  in  what  is  morally  evil.  Evil  he  permits  to  take 
place,  and  efficaciously  overrules  it  for  good — for  the  promo- 
tion of  his  glory. 

It  must  also  be  here  distinctly  noted,  although  it  is  clearly 
implied  in  the  general  statement,  and  will  afterwards  be  more 
particularly  considered,  that  the  decrees  of  God  relate  as 
much  to  the  means  or  secondary  causes,  by  which  events 
are  brought  about,  as  to  the  events  themselves.  Means  and 
ends  are  equally,  and  undividedly,  the  subject  of  the  decree. 
And  the  nature  and  character  of  the  means,  whether  moral 
or  natural,  are  not  changed,  but  fixed  and  preserved,  by  the 
divine  purpose. 

Thus  have  I  endeavoured  to  ascertain  and  state  distinctly, 
the  doctrine  contained  in  the  answer  of  the  Catechism  before 
us.     I  am  now  to  endeavour — 

II.  To  prove  it,  from  reason  and  from  scripture. 

Here  I  shall  not  detain  you  long.  For  whatever  difficulty 
some  may  find  in  receiving  this  doctrine,  the  process  of  rea- 
soning by  which  it  is  established,  is,  as  I  apprehend,  both 
short  and  conclusive;  and  the  scriptural  proof  is  extremely 
plain  and  diiect.  The  reasoi\ing  process  is  this — We  must 
believe  that  the  Deiiy  foreknew  all  things,  or  we  cannot  be- 
lieve in  the  perfection  of  his  nature.  To  say  that  he  was, 
or  could  be,  ignorant  of  a  single  future  event,  is  to  deny  his 
omniscience — one  of  his  essential  perfections;  and  it  is  also 
directly  to  impeach  his  wisdom,  by  supposing  that  he  acted 
without  a  perfect  plan.  But  nothing  can  be  foreknown  while 
it  remains  uncertain.  What  is  not  certain,  may  be  the  sub- 
ject of  conjecture,  but  not  of  absolute  knowledge.  Future 
events,  then,  to  be  foreknown,  must  be  perfectly  certain. 
Now,  before  the  events  took  place — innumerable  ages  before 
they  took  place — nothing  could  make  their  occurrence  per- 
fectly certain,  but  the  determination  oi  God — of  God  un- 
changeably ordaining  that  a  system  should  go  into  operation, 
which  would  infallibly  produce  these  events  at  a  certain  time, 
and  with  all  their  attendant  circumstances.  Thus,  we  think, 
that  the  decree  and  the  foreknowledge  of  God  are  inseparably 


158  LECTURES  ON  THE 

connected  tog;ether;  and  that,  according  to  human  concep- 
tions, the  decree,  in  point  of  order,  must  precede  foreknow- 
ledge. 

The  reverse  of  all  this,  is  the  doctrine  of  the  Arminians. 
They  say  that  the  foreknowledge  of  God  is  the  ground  of  his 
decree:  and  some,  that  he  foreknew  all  things  without  pro- 
perly decreeing  any  thing.  But  it  seems  to  us  that  the  whole 
of  this  sj'stem  exhibits  nothing  more  than  an  abortive  attempt 
to  avoid  a  startling  difficulty.*  We  think  so,  because  what 
its  advocates  say,  appears  to  us,  when  fairly  viewed,  not  to 
afford  any  relief  whatever,  in  regard  to  the  difficulty  from 
which  they  seek  to  escape.  We  do  by  no  means  deny  that 
the  future  and  contingent  actions  of  free  moral  agents,  may 
be  foreknown  by  the  Deity.  We  think  that  Reid,  in  his  es- 
says on  the  intellectual  powers  of  man — in  the  chapter  on 
memory — has  very  satisfactorily  illustrated  this  point.  But 
it  really  affords  no  sort  of  solution  of  the  difficulty  in  ques- 
tion. For  it  must  still  be  admitted,  that  with  a  full  and  per- 
fect view  of  what  free  moral  agents  would  do  and  be,  and  all 
the  consequences  that  would  follow,  the  Deity  gave  being  to 
those  agents^ — He  put  into  operation  the  system  that  was  cer- 
tainly to  result  in  all  their  actions  with  all  their  consequences: 
and  what  is  this,  but  virtually  to  admit,  that  he  determined 
that  these  actions,  and  events,  and  consequences,  should  take 
place?  For  if  he  had  not  determined  that  they  should  take 
place,  could  he  not,  and  would  he  not,  have  forborne  to  put 
in  train,  what  he  knew  would  infallibly  produce  them?  So 
that  it  comes  precisely  to  the  same  thing  at  last.  But  the 
doctrine  of  divine  foreordi nation,  as  seems  to  us,  is  more  fair 
than  the  Arminian  system,  in  statement — more  conclusive  in 
reasoning — more  agreeable  to  scripture,  and  more  calculated 
to  honour  God.  It  was  a  just  and  striking  reply,  which  King 
William  the  Third  of  England,  made  to  one,  who  asked  him, 

*  It  is  believed  that  the  Socinians,  on  this  subject,  generally  agree  with  the 
Arminians.  There  have  been  some  Socinians,  however,  (and  perhaps  there 
may  be  some  still,)  who  have  even  denied  the  omniscience  and  foreknowledge 
of  God  altogether.  But  of  these,  it  has  been  well  observed  by  Dr.  Vii^ither- 
spoon,  that  "  they  are  so  directly  opposite  to  the  letter  of  scripture,  that  they 
deserve  no  regard." 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  15J) 

if  he  could  believe  in  this. doctrine  of  foreordi nation.     The 
reply  was  to  this  effect — "  I  cannot  help  believing  it — for  I 
cannot  degrade  my  Maker  below  the  character  of  a  wise  man,  ) 
by  thinking;  that  he  acted  without  a  plan,  and  without  regard- 
ing the  consequences  of  what  he  did.'' 

The  scripture  proof  of  this  doctrine  is  abundant,  and  as  we 
believe  palpable.     We  know  indeed,  that  many  learned  and 
ingenious  criticisms  and  arguments  have  been  used,  to  show 
that  the  passages  we  allege  will  admit  of  another  construction. 
But  with  all  the  erudition  and  talent  which  have  been  em- 
ployed for  this  purpose,  we  do  not  think  that,  in  regard  to 
many  passages,  even  a  plausible  interpretation  has  been  given 
to  them,  so  as  to  set  aside  the  doctrine  in  question :  And  we 
do  maintain,  that  it  is  a  very  strong  presumption  against  any 
exposition  of  a  passage  of  scripture,  of  which  the  language  is 
plain  and  the  subject  evident,  if  the  expositor  labours  hard  to 
make  out  a  sense  different  from  that  which  would  otherwise 
occur,  and  be  received  as  the  most  obvious  and  natural.     The 
sacred  writers  are  certainly  to  be  understood  in  the  sense  in 
which  they  would  most  naturally  be  understood,  by  those  to 
whom  they  wrote  and  spoke.    A  portion  of  scripture,  already 
referred  to, — the  first  chapter  of  the  epistle  to  the  Ephesians, 
may  be  taken  as  an  example  of  what  I  have  here  in  view. 
After  all  the  learned  and  elaborate  efforts  which  have  been 
used,  to  show  that  this  chapter  may  consist  with  a  different 
construction,  its  obvious  and  natural  import  must,  we  think, 
have  been  understood  by  the  Ephesians,  and  must  now  strike 
every  unprejudiced  reader,  as  decisively  in  favour  of  the  doc- 
trine  of  foreordination   or  predestination,  and  of  particular 
election :  and  so  it  seems  to  me  it  must  for  ever  stand,  in  op- 
position to  all  human  ingenuity  that  may  be  employed  to  give 
it  another  bearing.     The  very  same  might  be  said  of  several 
other  extended  passages  in  Paul's  epistles,  especially  in  his 
epistle  to  the  Romans.     But  such  passages  are  not  confined 
to  the  writings  of  Paul,  or  to  any  one  part  of  the  sacred 
writings.     They  are  scattered  throughout  the  whole  Bible; 
so  that  I  might  spend  the  greater  part  of  the  time  assigned  to 


160  LECTURES  ON  THE 

this  lecture  in  repeating  texts  or  portions  of  scripture,  which 
either  plainly  and  distinctly,  or  by  fair  implication,  teach 
this  doctrine.  The  passagjes  need  no  comment,  and  therefore 
I  will  not  repeat  them.  I  will  only  refer  you,  in  a  Bible 
with  marginal  references,  to  the  9th  and  11th  chapters  of  the 
epistle  to  the  Romans;  or  to  that  first  chapter  only  of  the 
epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  which  I  have  repeatedly  men- 
tioned.* 

I  am  now — 

III.  Not  only  to  admit,  but  to  assert  and  vindicate,  other 
truths,  with  which  the  doctrine  of  the  divine  decrees  may 
seem  to  be  in  conflict;  to  repel  the  false  allegations  which 
have  been  made,  in  relation  to  those  who  believe  in  the  abso- 
lute sovereignty  of  God;  and  to  show  in  what  manner  the  ap- 
parently militating  truths  in  regard  to  this  subject  ought  to  be 
received  and  held. 

I  cannot  better  introduce  what  I  have  in  view  in  this  part 
of  our  discussion,  than  by  a  quotation  from  our  Confession  of 
Faith,  chap.  iii.  sec.  1 — Let  it  be  well  observed,  that  this  sec- 
tion was  manifestly  intended  to  contain  both  an  exhibition 
and  an  explanation  of  the  creed  of  our  church,  rela'tive  to  the 
subject  before  us;  that  it  may  distinctly  appear  that  what  I 
have  to  offer  is  in  perfect  accordance  with  that  creed.  The 
section  referred  to,  stands  as  follows — *^God  from  all  eternity 
did,  by  the  most  wise  and  holy  counsel  of  his  own  will,  free- 
ly and  unchangeably  ordain  whatsoever  comes  to  pass ;  yet 
so  as  thereby  neither  is  God  the  author  of  sin;  nor  is  violence 
offered  to  the  will  of  the  creatures;  nor  is  the  liberty  or 
contingency  of  second  causes  taken  away,  but  rather  esta- 
blished." 

The  first  important  guard  or  restriction  of  the  truth  here  ex- 
hibited is,  that  we  are  never  to  consider  the  decrees  of  God 

*  In  committing  his  lecture  to  the  press,  the  autlior  thinks  proper  to  specify 
some  of  the  portions  of  scripture  which  he  thinks  estabhsh  the  doctrine  of  di- 
vine foreordination  and  particular  election.— Rom.  viii.  28—39.  ix.  6—33.  xi. 
throughout.  Ephes.  i.  4—12.  2  Tim.  i.  9.  Acts  ii.  23.  iv.  27,  28.  xv.  18.  2 
Thes.  ii.  13.  1  Pet.  i.  5.  ii.  8.  2  Pet.  i.  10.  Mat.  xi.  25,  26.  John  vi.  37.  64, 
65.  viii.  47.  x.  26.  xvii.  9.  Jude  4.  Rev.  xiii.  8.  xvii.  8.  Gen.  1.  20.  Isa.  x. 
6,  7. 12.  xii.  7.    Prov.  xvi.  4.    Ex.  iv.  21.    Job  xiii.  13, 14.  xxxiv.  29. 


SHORTER    CATECHISM.  161 

In  any  such  light  as  to  make  Him  the  author  of  sin.  Judge 
then,  with  what  propriety  the  members  of  our  communion 
have  sometimes  been  charged  with  holding  this  horrible  tenet. 
It  cannot  possibly  be  renounced  in  more  unequivocal  language 
than  is  here  used,  in  the  standards  of  our  church.  And  if  any 
who  call  themselves  Calvinists  hold  this  tenet,  we  reject 
them,  with  as  much  promptitude  as  we  reject  the  impious 
principle  which  they  embrace.  Calvin  himself  never  held  it 
— On  the  contrary,  no  man  could  more  earnestly  express  his 
abhorrence  of  it,  or  more  cautiously  guard  his  followers 
against  it.  But,  say  our  opposers,  your  doctrine  of  the  de- 
crees must  draw  this  consequence  after  it — The  consequence 
must  necessarily  follow  from  that  doctrine.  No — we  reply 
— That  is  your  consequence,  not  ours.  We  utterly  deny 
the  consequence.  And  you  have  no  right  to  draw  it  for  us, 
and  to  charge  us  with  it;  for  that  is  to  take  for  granted  the 
whole  matter  in  dispute. 

And  here,  by  the  way,  I  would  remark,  that  however  fre- 
quently it  may  be  done — and  it  is  done  very  frequently — 
nothing  can  be  more  unfair  or  illiberal,  in  controversy  of  any 
kind,  and  especially  in  religious  controversy,  than  to  make  our 
own  inferences  from  opinions  which  we  dislike,  and  then  to 
charge  those  inferences  on  the  holders  of  the  hated  opinions 
— when  the  holders  themselves  utterly  disclaim  the  infer- 
ences, and  give  sufficient  evidence  that  they  are  not  influenced 
by  them.  We  may  not  only  think  that  certain  inferences  fol- 
low from  a  given  position,  but  admitting  that  they  actually 
and  legitimately  follow,  yet  if  those  with  whom  we  litigate 
deny  them,  and  are  manifestly  not  influenced  by  them,  to 
charge  them  with  the  guilt  or  criminality  of  such  inferences, 
is  most  uncandid  and  unjust.  Now,  in  the  present  instance,  I 
affirm  without  fear  of  contradiction,  that  there  is  no  sect  or 
denomination  of  Christians  whatever,  that  would  more  gene- 
rally or  more  deeply  shudder  at  the  thought  of  making  God 
the  author  of  sin,  than  those  who  hold  that  he  hath  "  foreor- 
dained whatsoever  comes  to  pass."  They  are  sensible  that  to 
make  such  a  charge  would  be  to  deny  the  moral  character  of 

X 


162  LECTURES    ON   THE 

the  Deity,  and  would  be  something  worse,  if  worse  be  pos- 
sible, than  atheism  itself — It  must  ever  be  considered  and 
maintained  as  a  first  and  invariable  principle  of  true  religion, 
that  "  God  is  righteous  in  all  his  ways,  and  holy  in  all  his 
works/' 

The  second  thing  which  the  Confession  of  Faith  teaches  us 
that  we  are  not  to  infer  from  the  doctrine  of  the  decrees,  is, 
"that  no  violence  is  offered  to  the  will  of  the  creatures." 
Here  again,  you  may  see  with  what  palpable  injustice  the  ac- 
cusation is  brought  against  the  Calvinists, — for  it  is  the  com- 
mon clamour — that  they  deny  man's  free  will,  and  make  him 
a  mere  machine.  But  this  is  only  another  inference  made 
by  an  adverse  party,  and  charged  on  sentiments,  if  not  on  in- 
dividuals, with  a  view  to  render  them  odious.  No  truly. 
We  believe  that  man  is  as  free  as  he  would  be  if  no  decree 
existed.  Our  freedom  of  choice  is  a  matter  of  consciousness. 
We  want  no  arguments  to  convince  us  of  it,  for  WQfeel  it — 
We  feel  that  we  choose  and  refuse  with  perfect  freedom  :  and 
we  are  not  of  the  number  of  those  who  suspect  that  we  are 
deceived,  by  the  very  constitution  of  that  nature  which  our 
Creator  has  given  us.  All  the  arrangements  of  civil  society, 
all  notions  of  moral  obligation,  all  the  punishments  inflicted 
by  law  for  crimes,  and  all  the  rewards  promised  to  virtue  or 
bestowed  upon  it — all  these  proceed  on  the  principle,  taken 
for  granted,  that  man  acts  freely,  and  is  therefore  the  proper 
subject  of  praise  and  blame,  reward  and  punishment.  But 
in  addition  to  this,  all  the  commands  and  threatenings,  all  the 
persuasions  and  invitations,  all  the  reasonings  and  motives, 
which  are  addressed  to  us  in  Holy  Scripture, — all  these,  rest 
on  the  assumption,  that  those  to  whom  they  are  addressed  are 
accountable  for  choosing  the  good,  and  refusing  the  evil. — 
This  is  not  the  place  for  considering,  at  length,  the  influence 
of  inherent  depravity.  I  shall  at  present  only  say,  that  we 
think  no  rational  man  can,  or  does  believe,  that  depravity 
frees  any  human  being  from  a  full  responsibility  for  all  that 
he  designs  or  does;  and  for  every  known  omission  of  duty, 


SHORTER    CATECHISM.  163 

or  refusal  of  obedience  to  the  commands  of  God,  with  which 
he  is  chargeable. 

The  third  disclaimer,  which  is  made  in  the  Confession  of 
Faith,  of  a  dangerous  inference  from  the  doctrine  of  the  de- 
crees of  God,  is  thus  expressed — "the  liberty  or  contingency 
of  second  causes  is  not  taken  away,  but  rather  established." 
Here  you  see  once  more,  the  falsehood  of  those  who  charge 
our  catechism,  or  those  who  receive  it,  with  destroying  human 
liberty  and  the  efficacy  of  means,  or  of  favouring  a  system  of 
fatalism — No  indeed — we  leave  the  doctrine  of  fatalism  to  the 
ancient  Stoicks,  to  the  modern  Mussulmen,  and  to  atheists 
and  infidels  of  every  description.  We  know  of  no  sect  of 
Christians  that  holds  or  favours  the  doctrine.  The  Calvin- 
ists,  or  predestinarians,  are,  if  possible,  more  free  from  it  than 
any  other.  For  you  perceive,  by  the  quotation  just  recited, 
that  "  the  liberty  or  contingency  of  second  causes  is  rather  es- 
tablished,^^ than  taken  away,  by  this  doctrine — that  is,  the 
doctrine  teaches  that  human  liberty,  and  the  contingency  and 
proper  influence  of  second  causes,  were  as  much  decreed  as 
any  thing  else.  Whoever  therefore  believes  this  doctrine, 
must  believe  in  human  liberty;  must  believe  in  the  contin- 
gency and  influence  of  second  causes;  must  believe  that  every 
end  is  to  be  brought  about  by  its  proper  means ;  must  believe 
that  these  means  are  as  much  in  our  power,  as  any  thing  can 
be  in  our  power;  and  must  believe  that  without  the  use  of  the 
proper  means,  the  end  is  never  to  be  looked  for  or  expected. 
He  vvho  holds  any  thing  contrary  to  this,  is — so  far  as  he 
holds  it — not  a  sound  believer  in  our  Confession  of  Faith  and 
catechisms — He  is  not  a  consistent  Calvinist. 

Thus  you  perceive,  that  we  not  only  admit,  but  assert  and 
vindicate,  the  truths  with  which  the  divine  decrees  may  seem 
to  be  in  conflict — while  we  repel  the  false  allegations  which 
have  been  made,  in  regard  to  those  who  believe  in  the  abso- 
lute sovereignty  of  God. 

But  now,  as  it  is  conceded  that  the  truths  last  stated  do 
seem  to  militate  with  the  position  that  God  hath  "  foreor- 
dained whatsoever  comes  to  pass,"  it  is  reasonable  to  in- 


164  LECTURES  ON  THE 

quire, — how  are  we  to  dispose  of  this  difficulty?  I  answer, 
with  frankness  and  explicitness,  that,  for  myself,  I  believe, 
that  in  following  the  subject  out,  there  is  a  difficulty  here, 
which  the  human  intellect  will  never  be  able  to  solve  or  sa- 
tisfactorily to  remove  in  this  world.  It  were  easy  to  say 
much  to  put  the  difficulty  out  of  sight;  and  much  to  show 
that  every  other  system  that  has  ever  been  adopted  in  rela- 
tion to  this  subject  is  more  objectionable,  and  harder  to  be 
maintained,  than  that  which  has  been  laid  down  in  this  lec- 
ture. This  I  verily  believe  to  be  the  fact.  If  I  did  not,  I 
would  adopt  some  other  system — But  it  is  my  deliberate 
conviction  that  every  other  system  is  liable  to  more — far 
more — objections  than  this.  It  seems  to  me,  after  as  close  an 
investigation  as  I  have  been  able  to  give  the  subject,  that  on 
the  one  hand,  the  absolute  sovereignty  of  God  in  his  decrees 
and  providence  is  clearly  demonstrable,  both  from  reason  and 
scripture;  and  that,  from  the  same  sources  on  the  other  hand, 
the  freedom  and  accountableness  of  man,  and  the  influence  of 
means  ©r  second  causes,  are  equally  evident  and  undeniable. 
I  therefore  receive  and  firmly  believe  both  these  truths;  al- 
though I  cannot  explain  how  they  consist  with  each  other: 
and  I  feel  no  mortification,  and  no  reluctance  in  making  this 
avowal.  Why  should  I,  when  a  similar  avowal  has  been 
made  by  men  of  the  first  order  of  intellect  that  the  world  has 
ever  seen?  Dr.  Witherspoon,  than  whom  I  have  certainly 
never  personally  known  a  man  more  capable  of  investigating 
such  topicks,  closes  his  theological  lecture  on  this  subject  in 
these  words :  "  For  my  own  part,  I  freely  own,  that  I  could 
never  see  any  thing  satisfactory,  in  the  attempts  of  divines  or 
metaphysicians,  to  reconcile  these  two  things;  but  it  does  not 
appear  difficult  to  me,  to  believe  precisely  in  the  form  of  our 
Confession  of  Failh;  to  believe  both  the  certainty  of  God's 
purpose,  and  the  free  agency  of  the  creature.  Nor  does  my 
being  unable  to  explain  these  doctrines,  form  an  objection 
against  the  one  or  the  other."  Here  is  the  declaration  of  a 
man  of  true  learning,  piety  and  candour.  But  in  truth,  it  is 
not  wonderful  that  such  men  as  Locke  and  Witherspoon, 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  165 

should  have  made  such  declarations;  because  they  knew  that 
in  natural  philosophy,  and  in  every  thing  to  which  human 
investigation  is  directed,  the  powers  of  our  minds  soon  reach 
an  impassable  boundary;  and  that  we  must,  and  do  often — 
very  often — hold  as  unquestionable  truths,  things  which  we 
cannot  explain  or  reconcile.  Witherspoon  remarks,  that  the 
difficulty  before  us  "is  the  same  in  natural  as  in  revealed 
religion ;  and  the  same  in  the  course  of  nature  as  in  both. 
The  certainty  of  events,  makes  as  much  against  common  dili- 
gence in  the  affairs  of  life,  as  against  diligence  in  religion" — 
No — It  is  your  sciolists,  your  half  taught  people,  that  think 
they  can  explain  and  measure  every  thing;  and  who  declare 
that  they  will  believe  nothing  which  they  cannot  compre- 
hend. Whoever  should  really  do  this,  would  soon  find  that 
he  could  believe  very  little. 

My  dear  youth,  the  subject  before  you,  is  one  of  the  deep 
things  of  God.  The  heathens  tried  to  explain  it,  and  could 
not.  Revelation  does  not  attempt  to  explain  it;  because,  pro- 
bably, it  cannot  be  explained  to  our  comprehension,  unless 
new  faculties  should  be  given  us,  or  unless  those  we  have 
should  be  greatly  enlarged.  But  revelation  professes  to  give 
us  no  such  faculties,  nor  any  such  enlargement.  Revelation 
takes  man  as  he  is.  It  clearly  teaches  us  both  these  truths, 
as  I  think  I  have  plainly  shown  you ;  and  it  attempts  no  ex- 
planation.. Let  me  call  your  attention  for  a  moment  to  one 
text  of  scripture,  in  which  the  efficiency  of  means  and  exer- 
tions on  the  part  of  man,  and  at  the  same  time  his  absolute 
dependance  on  grace  and  assistance  to  be  imparted  from  God, 
are  distinctly  brought  together — Phil.  ii.  12,  13 — "^  Work 
out  your  own  salvation  with  fear  and  trembling:  For  it  is 
God  that  worketh  in  you,  both  to  will  and  to  do  of  his  good 
pleasure."  Here,  in  a  single  sentence,  we  have  both  the 
principles  which  I  have  endeavoured  to  maintain  and  incul- 
cate, sanctioned  and  applied  to  practice.  We  are  commanded 
"to  work  out  our  own  salvation  with  fear  and  trembling;" 
and  yet  taught,  at  the  moment,  that  "  it  is  God  who  worketh 
in  us,  both  to  will  and  to  do,  of  his  good  pleasure :"  And 


166  LECTURES  ON  THE 

what  is  worthy  to  be  noted  and  remembered  is,  that  our  ab- 
solute dependance  on  God,  is  stated  as  an  encouragement — 
not  as  a  discouragement — to  exert  our  own  powers,  and  to 
use  diligently  all  the  means  of  grace.  Let  me  exhort  you. 
then  always  to  view  and  treat  the  subject  in  this  very  man- 
ner. Hold  both  these  truths,  and  let  them  both  be  practical; 
but  never  perplex  and  torment  your  minds  with  endeavouring 
to  comprehend  the  manner  of  their  agreement,  nor  ever  be 
discouraged  in  attempting  any  duty  because  you  cannot  com- 
prehend it.  "It  is  finely  imagined  by  Milton,  that  he  makes 
a  part  of  the  damned  in  hell,  to  torment  themselves  with  un- 
searchable questions,  about  fixed  fate,  free  w^ill,  foreknow- 
ledge absolute.  It  is  certain  that  we  cannot  now  fathom  these 
subjects — if  we  ever  shall  to  eternity.^'*  Forbear,  then,  all 
attempts  to  fathom  them ;  but  as  I  have  said,  make  a  prac- 
tical use  of  the  known  truths;  and  let  the  truth  always  be 
viewed  in  an  encouraging  light — That  is,  exert  all  your 
powers,  and  use  all  the  appointed  means,  in  the  great  matter 
of  your  soul's  salvation;  and  be  encouraged  to  this,  because 
you  have  help  in  God,  who  is  ever  ready  to  aid  by  his  grace 
the  endeavours  of  all  who  sincerely  and  earnestly  ask  Him  to 
impart  it  to  them.  If  this  course  be  pursued  humbly  and 
perseveringly,  you  will  obtain  salvation:  but  if  it  be  ne- 
glected, you  will  certainly  perish,  and  the  guilt,  as  well  as 
the  pains  of  perdition,  will  be  all  your  own.  "Strive,  there- 
fore, to  enter  in  at  the  strait  gate — For  every  one  that  asketh 
receiveth,  and  he  that  seeketh  findeth,  and  to  him  that  knock- 
eth  it  shall  be  opened.''     Amen. 

*  Witherspoon. 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  167 


LECTURE  XL 

What  are  the  decrees  of  God? — continued. 
Hoiv  doth  God  execute  his  decrees? 
What  is  the  work  of  creation? 

Our  last  lecture  related  to  a  subject  of  importance,  and  of 
confessed  difficulty.  It  was  not  found  practicable  to  bring 
within  the  time  allotted  to  the  discussion,  all  that  properly 
belongs  to  it,  or  to  the  answer  on  which  it  was  grounded.  It 
is  not  my  intention,  however,  to  detain  you  with  it  much 
longer.  But  before  we  proceed  to  the  next  answer,  I  think 
it  may  be  useful  to  notice  very  briefly,  a  few  frightful  infe- 
rences, in  addition  to  those  mentioned  in  the  last  lecture, 
which  have  been  made  from  the  doctrine  of  the  divine  decrees, 
particularly  the  decree  of  election;  and  to  enter  at  least  a 
protest  against  the  justice  of  these  inferences,  and  of  the 
charge  that  they  are  held  or  admitted,  by  those  who  hold  the 
doctrine  from  which  they  are  said  to  follow.  I  also  propose 
to  make  a  few  remarks  on  that  part  of  the  answer,  not  yet 
noticed,  which  states  that  it  was  for  "  his  own  glory,"  that 
God  foreordained  whatsoever  comes  to  pass. 

You  will  probably,  my  young  friends,  hear  the  church  to 
which  you  belong  reproached — for  it  has  often  been  reproach- 
ed— with  holding  generally  ''  the  horrible  dogmas  of  Cal- 
vin." On  this  I  would  observe  to  you,  that  it  ought  to  be 
easy  for  us  to  forgive,  and  even  to  pity,  the  authors  of  this 
reproach;  because  I  think  it  is  scarcely  ever  made,  except 
by  those  who  are  ignorant  both  of  what  we  really  believe  and 
what  Calvin  really  taught :  and  it  is  weak,  as  well  as  unchris- 
tian, to  be  much  moved  by  the  effusions  of  ignorance.  If  we 
soberly  condemn  the  rashness  manifested  in  such  a  reproach, 
and  pray  that  those  in  whom  it  has  appeared  may  come  to 
possess  a  better  spirit,  we  shall  perform  the  duty  which  the 
occasion  demands. 


168  LECTURES  ON  THE 

In  specifying  the  false  charges  which  have  been  brought 
against  those  who  hold  the  doctrine  of  the  divine  decrees, 
especially  as  Including  particular  election,  the  following  may 
I  think  be  mentioned  as  among  the  most  common.  It  is  said, 
we  believe  that  God  formed  a  great  part  of  the  human  race 
on  purpose  to  damn  them — having  determined  to  deprive 
them  of  all  power  to  help  themselves;  that  we  hold  that  there 
are  infants  in  hell  of  a  span  long;  and  that  we  represent  the 
blessed  God  altogether,  as  an  absolute,  severe,  and  inexorable 
tyrant,  disposing  of  his  creatures  in  the  most  arbitrary  and 
inequitable  manner.  Need  1  assure  you,  that  we  reject 
every  one  of  these  revolting  ideas,  with  as  much  sincerity  as 
any  of  those  who  charge  us  with  them — and  with  far  more 
sensibility,  Ihope,  than  ^ome  who  charge  us?  Whenever 
therefore  you  hear  Calvinists  and  Calvinism  charged  with 
these,  or  any  similar  sentiments,  remember  that  the  party 
who  does  it  is  either  ignorant  or  malignant — He  either 
does  not  know  what  we  believe,  or  he  wilfully  misrepresents 
our  sentiments.  He  draws  his  own  terrifick  consequences 
from  our  principles,  and  then  charges  us  with  them.  But  we 
ourselves  draw  no  such  consequences ;  and  we  earnestly  con- 
tend that  they  do  not  necessarily  or  fairly  follow  from  any 
thing  we  hold.  We  even  shudder  when  we  hear  them  re- 
peated. If  now  and  then  an  individual,  who  has  chosen  to 
call  himself  a  Calvinist,  has  said  something  that  might  justly 
subject  him  to  the  charge  of  holding  any  of  these  obnoxious 
tenets,  let  him  alone  be  responsible.  Let  not  the  denomina- 
tion to  which  he  claims  to  belong,  be  made  answerable  for 
his  folly  and  his  guilt;  for  there  is  no  religious  sect  that  could 
escape  scandal  on  any  other  terms.  There  is,  I  venture  to 
affirm,  no  established  Christian  sect,  that  has  not  produced 
individuals  who  have  adopted  and  promulged  wild  and  ex- 
travagant notions,  utterly  abhorrent  to  those  with  whom  they 
have  been  associated.  I  have  stated  in  my  last  lecture,  the 
manner  in  which  we  really  hold  the  doctrines  from  which 
these  unjust  inferences  are  drawn,  and  the  practical  use  w^e 
are  to  make  of  what  we  hold.     I  think  proper  now  to  add, 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  169 

that  in  regard  to  infants,  there  are  many  Calvinists  who  be- 
lieve that  all  infants,  who  die  before  the  exercise  of  reason, 
belong  to  the  election  of  grace;  and  therefore  that  there  can 
be  no  question,  or  doubt,  of  their  salvation.  Scott,  who 
was  a  sound  and  very  rational  Calvinist,  was  decidedly  of  this 
opinion,  as  appears  from  his  commentary  on  Matt.  xix.  14 — 
'•  Suffer  little  children  to  come  unto  me,  and  forbid  them  not, 
for  of  such  is  the  kingdom  of  God." — "  The  expression,  (says 
Scott,)  may  intimate  that  the  kingdom  of  heavenly  glory  is 
greatl)^  constituted  of  such  as  die  in  infancy.  Infants  are  as 
capable  of  regeneration  as  grown  persons;  and  there  is  abun- 
dant ground  to  conclude,  that  all  those  who  have  not  lived 
to  commit  actual  transgressions,  though  they  share  in  the  ef- 
fects of  the  first  Adam's  offence,  will  also  share  in  the  bless- 
ings of  the  second  Adam's  gracious  covenant :  without  their 
personal  faith  and  obedience,  but  not  without  the  regenerat- 
ing influence  of  the  Spirit  of  Christ." 

Before  leaving  this  part  of  the  subject,  I  will  just  mention 
that  Calvinists  have  been  divided  into  two  classes;  the  one 
denominated  Siipralapsarians,  the  other  Sublapsariaiis. 
These  names  have  been  assig^ned  from  the  circumstance,  that 
the  former  class  consider  the  divine  decree,  in  regard  to  the 
elect  and  reprobate,  as  contemplating  man  before  the  fall; 
and  the  latter  class  as  relating  to  him  only  after  the  fall. 
Both  classes  equally  maintain  the  entire  sovereignty  of  God, 
and  equally  reject  with  abhorrence  all  impeachment  of  his 
justice,  or  of  any  other  of  his  glorious  attributes.  Those  who 
are  called  moderate  Calvinists^  are,  I  believe,  generally,  if 
not  universally,  Sublapsarians. 

Let  us  now  give  a  little  attention  to  the  important  point, 
that  it  was  for  his  own  glory  that  God  foreordained  tvhat- 
soever  comes  to  pass.  It  is  of  great  moment,  my  young 
friends,  that  you  should  be  sensible  that  the  glory  of  God  is 
infinitely  a  higher  and  better  object,  than  the  glory  and  hap- 
piness of  all  creatures.  All  creatures  united,  are  to  the 
Creator,  only  as  that  which  is  finite  is  to  that  which  is  infi- 
nite.    As  far  therefore  as  the  wishes  and  the  happiness  of 


170  LECtURES  ON  THE 

creatures  interfere  with  the  iijlory  of  their  Creator,  reason  and 
equity  dictate,  that  the  latter  should  be  preferred  before  the 
former:  and  as  God  is  perfect,  his  very  perfection  assures  us 
that  this  preference  will  always  take  place.  It  also  assures 
us,  that  the  divine  £:;lory  will  always  be  reconciled  with  the 
happiness  of  every  individual  sentient  being  in  the  universe, 
so  far  as  this  is  consistent  with  the  greatest  general  good  ;  for 
according  to  our  conceptions,  the  divine  glory  appears  to  re- 
quire this. 

Recollect  the  distinction  already  explained  in  m)"  second 
lecture,  between  the  essential  and  declarative  glory  of  God. 
With  the  essential  glory  of  the  Deity  creatures  can  have 
nothing  to  do.  It  is  absolutely  independent  of  them,  and  un- 
connected with  them.  It  is  only  the  declarative  glory  of 
God,  with  which  they  and  their  actions  have  any  connexion. 
Now  this  declarative  glory  consists  in  the  Creator  appearing 
to  his  intelligent  creatures,  when  fully  enlightened,  most  ex- 
cellent, most  amiable,  as  well  as  most  mighty  and  majestick. 
To  his  creatures  he  declares  and  manifests  himself  as  glori- 
ous, when  his  works  exhibit  him,  at  once  as  great  and  amia- 
ble, in  an  infinite  degree.  But  to  be  both  great  and  amiable  in 
an  infinite  degree,  the  happiness  of  his  sentient  creatures  must 
be  consulted,  as  far  as  is  consistent  with  equity  and  the  nature 
of  things — Farther  than  this,  certainly  not;  because  if  equi- 
ty and  the  fitness  of  things  were  once  violated,  this  itself  would 
be  the  destruction  of  all  order,  of  all  moral  excellence,  and  of 
all  amiableness  at  once.  We  have  every  reason  then,  to  be- 
lieve that  the  declarative  glory  of  God  will  be  found,  in  fact, 
to  harmonize  with  all  the  happiness  that  reason  and  equity 
should  make  us  wish  to  be  introduced  into  a  system  like  ours. 
It  is  therefore  infinitely  reasonable,  that  we  should  desire  the 
promotion  of  this  glory— It  is  in  itself  the  highest  object,  and 
in  its  display  lies  the  highest  happiness  of  all  good  beings. 

It  has  been  queried  whether  infinite  wisdom  might  not 
have  devised  a  system,  into  which  all  the  good,  and  yet  none 
of  the  evil,  of  the  present  system,  might  have  entered.  On 
this  I  remark,  that  if  we  answer  this  query  categorically, 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  171 

whether  affirmatively  or  negatively,  we  shall  find  the  answer 
attended  with  very  serious  difficulties.  I  therefore  am  deli- 
berately of  the  opinion,  that  we  ought  to  give  it  no  other  an- 
swer than  this — that  no  wisdom,  less  than  infinite,  can  tell 
what  infinite  wisdom,  in  regard  to  this  subject,  could  have 
effected;  but  our  wisdom  is  not  infinite,  and  therefore  it  is 
not  for  us  to  pronounce  on  the  subject.  We  know  what  has 
taken  place — and  we  know  that  our  Creator  is  perfect.  We 
know  that  his  glory  is  the  best  object  that  can  be  presented 
to  the  view  of  his  creatures,  and  we  have  every  reason  to 
believe  that  it  not  only  harmonizes  with,  but  consists  in,  all 
the  happiness  that  any  good  being,  fully  enlightened,  would 
desire  or  wish  to  belong  to  the  system  which  God  has  actu- 
ally established.  This  is  enough  for  us; — enough  to  make 
us  seek  the  glory  of  God  supremely,  and  consider  it  as  un- 
speakably the  most  desirable  end  to  be  promoted.  It  is  enough 
to  make  us  see  that  it  is  this  end  which  our  Creator,  from 
the  very  perfection  of  his  nature,  does  and  will  regard  as  su- 
preme — in  all  his  works  and  in  all  his  dispensations. 

We  now  proceed  to  the  consideration  of  the  next  answer 
in  the  Catechism,  which  is — "  God  executeth  his  decrees  in 
the  works  of  creation  and  providence."  In  the  two  great 
theatres  of  display,  creation  and  providence,  the  Deity  carries 
into  effect  his  eternal  purposes,  in  all  the  variety  and  particu- 
larity of  their  manifestation;  and  all  co-ncentering,  like  so 
many  scattered  rays,  to  this  one  point — the  illustration  of  his 
own  glory.  It  belongs  to  the  following  answers  to  explain, 
more  particularly,  how  this  is  done.  Here  however,  it  may 
be  proper  just  to  notice  a  speculation,  which,  if  mentioned  at 
all,  should  be  introduced  now.  It  is,  whether  we  are  to  con- 
sider the  whole  material  and  intelligent  universe,  as  having 
been  created  at  the  same  time  with  the  world  which  we  in- 
habit. Some  have  supposed  that  myriads  of  ages  before  the 
formation  of  our  world,  and  perhaps  of  the  solar  system  of 
which  it  is  a  part,  other  systems,  peopled  with  intelligent  be- 
ings, had  existed.  Some  too,  are  of  the  opinion,  that  the 
work  of  creation  is  still  going  on — that  in  the  immensity  of 
space,  new  systems  are  frequently  springing  into  birth,  at  the 


172  LECTURES  ON  THE 

command  of  the  Almighty  Creator ;  and  perhaps  that  some 
also,  having  finished  their  destined  periods,  are  occasionally 
blotted  from  existence.  It  is  clear,  at  once,  that  this  is  all 
matter  of  mere  conjecture,  and  that  nothing  certain  can  be 
known  on  the  subject.  The  analogies  on  which  any  reason- 
ings on  this  subject  may  be  built,  must  be  very  slight,  if  not 
entirely  fanciful.  Some  have  thought  that  it  was  not  deeming 
worthily  of  the  great  Creator,  to  suppose  that  he  permittt;d  his 
omnipotent  power  and  infinite  goodness  to  slumber  in  silence 
from  all  eternity,  till  within  about  six  thousand  years.  But  I 
am.  afraid  that  this  itself,  is  not  to  think  in  the  most  worthy 
manner  of  the  Creator:  For  carry  the  work  of  creation  bank 
as  far  as  you -can,  there  must  still  have  been  an  eternity  before 
that,  in  which  there  was  no  creature — in  which  the  Creator 
dwelt  alone.  We  see  therefore,  that  the  difficulty  is  not  at 
all  relieved.  The  truth  is,  the  subject  is  altogether  beyond 
our  knowledge,  and  beyond  our  conceptions;  and  in  ail  such 
cases,  as  soon  as  we  perceive  the  fact  to  be  so,  duty  and  com- 
fort both  dictate,  that  we  should  cease  our  speculations. 

I  do  not  indeed  suppose,  that  what  the  scriptures  teach  us 
on  the  subject  of  creation,  was  intended  to  apply  directly  to 
any  thing  but  the  system  with  which  we  are  concerned.  As 
to  the  formation  of  angels,  the  scripture  does  not  distinctly  in- 
form us  when  it  took  place.  It  once  appeared  most  probable 
to  me,  that  they  were  created  some  considerable  time  before 
man.  I  now  rather  think  it  probable  that  they  were  formed 
on  the  first  day  of  creation.  It  would  seem,  from  a  passage  in 
Job,  that  they  were  the  witnesses  of  the  formation  of  man, 
and  rejoiced  in  it — It  is  said,  "the  morning  stars  sang  to- 
gether, and  all  the  sons  of  God  shouted  for  joy."  It  does  not 
appear  improbable,  that  the  time  that  man  continued  in  in- 
nocence was  a  space  long  enough  for  the  apostate  angels  to 
have  efiected  their  rebellion  and  fall,  and  to  have  become  the 
tempters  and  seducers  of  our  first  parents. 

But  we  have  a  little  anticipated  the  next  answer  of  the  Ca- 
techism, which  is—"  The  work  of  creation  is  God's  making 
all  things  of  nothing,  by  the  word  of  his  power,  in  the  space 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  173 

of  six  days,  and  all  very  good."  Let  us  take  the  several 
members  of  this  answer  in  order,  and  make  a  few  observations 
on  each. 

1.  God  made  all  things  of  nothing — "  In  the  beginning  God 
created  the  heavens  and  the  earth ;"  this  is  the  simple,  su- 
blime, and  satisfactory  account  of  creation,  which  we  derive 
from  revelation.  Infinitely  more  satisfactory  it  is,  than  all 
the  cosmogonies,  or  accounts  of  the  origin  of  the  world,  that 
have  been  given  by  philosophers  and  poets,  either  ancient  or 
modern.  Of  these  some  supposed  that  the  world  was  eternal ; 
others  that  it  was  formed  out  of  pre-existent  matter,  which 
they  supposed  to  be  eternal;  for  it  does  not  appear  that  one 
of  them  entertained  the  idea  distinctly,  of  the  production  of 
matter  out  of  nothing.  The  Mosaick  account  simply  states 
that  the  Creator  spake  and  it  was  done,  he  commanded  and  it 
stood  fast.  You  will  notice  that  no  attempt  is  made  to  tell 
how  matter  rose  out  of  nothing  into  existence.  The  fact  is 
that  this  could  not  be  told,  and  cannot  be  even  conceived  of 
by  us.  How  something  should  be  made  out  of  nothing,  is 
beyond  all  our  conceptions.  Talk  of  mysteries  in  religion — 
there  is  not  one  of  them  all  greater,  or  more  beyond  the 
reach  of  our  understandings  than  this.  Yet  of  this  we  enter- 
tain no  doubt.  Matter  was  either  created  or  it  was  eternal. 
To  suppose  it  eternal,  is  infinitely  absurd,  as  well  as  contrary 
to  scripture.  To  suppose  it  created  is  not  absurd,  is  not  irra- 
tional; for  to  create  it  was  competent  to  infinite  wisdom  and 
almighty  power.  In  a  word,  although  it  transcends  our  facul- 
ties to  comprehend  how  it  was  created,  yet  it  is  in  no  wise 
contrary  to  reason  to  believe  the  fact. 

2.  It  was  by  the  word  of  his  power,  that  God  made  all 
things  of  nothing.  I  have  never  read  any  thing  so  awfully 
sublime,  as  the  representation  of  Moses,  that  God  spake  cre- 
ation into  existence  by  a  word.  He  willed  it,  he  ordered  it, 
and  it  was  done,  it  existed — '^  Let  there  be  light,  and  there 
was  light."  Longinus  mentions  this  as  a  wonderful  instance 
of  the  sublime.  But  turn  your  attention,  my  young  friends, 
from  words  to  things — from  what  may  strike  the  fancy  to  what 


174  LECTURES  ON  THE 

shall  affect  the  heart — and  while  you  contemplate  the  wonders 
of  creating  power,  adore  the  Author  of  your  being,  and  feel 
yourselves  as  nothing  in  his  presence. 

3.  It  was  in  the  space  of  six  days  that  God  created  all 
things.  No  doubt  it  had  been  equally  easy  with  God  to  have 
made  all  things  in  an  instant  of  time.  But  as  it  helps  our 
conceptions  of  the  work  of  creation,  now  that  it  is  formed,  to 
think  of  its  gradual  production,  so  there  were  other  wise  pur- 
poses to  be  answered  by  it.  An  example  of  alternate  labour 
and  rest  was  hereby  set,  which  was  intended  to  be  of  use  in 
every  successive  age.  And  the  proper  portion  of  time,  to  be 
set  apart  for  the  immediate  worship  of  God  and  the  cultivation 
of  a  holy  and  heavenly  temper,  was  in  this  manner  fixed  by 
the  divine  appointment.* 

On  the  first  day,  the  general  system  of  the  heavens  and  the 
earth  was  formed  ;  and  light  was  created,  before  the  beams  of 
the  sun  had  dawned  on  the  dark  abyss — "  On  the  second  day, 
a  firmament,  expansion,  or  atmosphere  was  made,  to  support 
the  water  in  the  clouds,  and  to  separate  it  from  that  which  was 
below.  On  the  third  day,  the  water  was  drained  from  the 
earthly  parts  of  our  system,  and  gathered  into  seas,  either  in 
the  bowels  of  the  earth,  or  in  such  beds  on  the  surface  as  were 
formed  for  it,  and  the  earth  was  rendered  productive.  On  the 
fourth  day,  the  light  was  collected  into  its  future  source,  the 
sun,  and  the  moon  and  stars  were  made  to  appear.  On  the 
fifth  day  the  fishes  were  formed  from  the  water,  and  the  fowls 
from  the  same  element.  On  the  sixth  day,  the  cattle,  the 
creeping  things,  and  the  body  of  Adam,  were  all  formed  out 
of  the  dust  of  the  earth  ;  and  Eve  out  of  a  rib  taken  from 
Adam's  side :  And  both  Adam  and  Eve  were  endued  with 
immortal  souls."  In  all  this,  a  beautiful  order  is  observable^ 
Inanimate  matter  is  first  created  and  organized,  the  earth  is 

*  Some  recent  attempts  have  been  made  to  show  that  the  days  of  creation, 
mentioned  in  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis,  should  be  considered  not  as  days  which 
consist  of  a  single  revolution  of  the  earth,  but  as  periods  comprehending  seve- 
ral centuries.  But  all  such  ideas,  however  learnedly  or  ingeniously  advo- 
cated, I  cannot  but  regard  as  fanciful  in  the  extreme ;  and  what  is  worse,  as 
introducing  such  a  method  of  treating  the  plain  language  of  scripture,  as  is 
calculated  to  destroy  all  confidence  in  the  volume  of  inspiration. 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  175 

made  productive,  animals  are  then  produced  out  of  matter  pre- 
viously formed;  and  last  of  all,  man,  the  lord  of  this  lower 
creation,  is  introduced  into  the  world,  ready  furnished,  and 
adorned  in  all  its  beauty,  for  his  use  and  gratification. 

Capellus  and  others  think  that  Spring  was  the  first  season 
that  began  its  course,  after  the  creation:  Or  that  creation,  if 
you  will,  took  place  in  the  Spring.  But  in  some  respects  it 
was  certainly  harvest  time,  immediately  after  the  creation ; 
for  we  are  expressly  told  that  the  trees  and  herbs  brought 
forth  their  fruits  and  seeds,  as  soon  as  they  were  created.  It 
is  also  a  fact,  that  in  the  earliest  periods  of  time,  mankind  be- 
gan their  year  uniformly  in  harvest;  by  which  however, 
must  be  understood  the  autumnal  months.  Hence  Usher, 
Scalliger,  and  Spanheim,  with  great  probability,  place  crea- 
tion in  the  month  of  September  or  October. 

The  theories  of  Des  Cartes,  Burnet,  Whiston,  and  Buffon, 
so  far  as  they  are  inconsistent  with  the  Mosaick  account,  are 
both  impious  and  absurd — That  of  Buffon  is  absolutely  ridicu- 
lous. I  shall  not  state  any  of  them ;  but  only  observe,  that 
whenever  philosophers  have  attempted  to  gainsay  revelation, 
they  have  never  failed  to  dishonour  their  own  understandings, 
even  in  the  view  of  the  wisest  of  their  own  class,  as  well 
as  to  render  themselves  odious  or  pitiable,  in  the  eyes  of 
Christians. 

I  shall  only  remark  farther  on  this  clause  in  the  answer, 
that  we  are  struck  with  wonder,  when  we  contemplate  the 
visible  and  material  creation;  but  that  the  invisihle,  immate- 
rial, spiritual  creation,  is  still  far  more  wonderful.  The  soul 
of  man — that  thinking  principle,  my  children,  by  which  you 
now  attend  to  this  subject  of  creation — is  far  more  wonderful, 
and  far  more  noble,  than  the  whole  material  creation.  It  was 
for  spirit  that  matter  was  formed  It  was  for  souls  that  the 
world  which  you  behold  was  created.  In  your  souls  there- 
fore, view  the  most  astonishing  and  noble  of  your  Maker's 
works  below — And  while  you  reverence  them,  0!  try  (o  se- 
cure their  eternal  happiness.  Dr  Young,  speaking  of  the 
final  destruction  of  the  material  universe,  justly  says — 


176.  LECTURES  ON  THE 

"  The  devastations  of  one  dreadful  hour, 

The  great  Creator's  six  days'  work  devour ; 

A  mighty,  mighty  ruin!    Yet  one  soul 

Has  more  to  boast,  and  far  outweighs  the  whole.' 

4.  When  God  had  finished  creation,  it  was  all  very  good. 
This  is  frequently  repeated  in  the  Mosaick  account;  and  this 
the  holiness  and  goodness  of  the  Creator  required.  We  can- 
not conceive  that  the  immediate  workmanship  or  production 
of  a  perfect  Bein^,  should  be  otherwise  than  perfect— perfect- 
ly free,  at  least,  from  all  moral  blemish.  Account  for  the 
origin  of  moral  evil  as  we  may,  we  cannot  reconcile  it  with 
our  ideas  of  the  perfect  holiness  of  God,  that  he  should  have 
made  man  a  sinner.  He  did  not  make  him  so.  He  made 
him,  as  well  as  every  thing  else,  very  good.  And  here,  let 
me  remark  by  the  way,  is  the  great  radical  error — the  proton 
pseudos — of  all  the  infidel  writers,  who  have  ever  attempted 
to  give  an  account  of  man — of  his  origin,  state,  and  duties. 
Rejecting  the  scriptures,  they  take  man  to  be  now  what  he 
was  at  Jirst— -when  he  came  fresh  from  the  hand  of  his  Cre- 
ator. This  is  an  unqualified  and  fundamental  error;  and  of 
consequence,  the  whole  of  the  systems  which  they  build  on 
this  idea — that  man's  natural  propensities  are  all  7iow  what 
God  at  Jirst  made  them — must  be  deeply  and  fatally  erro- 
neous. 

It  would  be  pleasant  to  dwell  a  little  on  the  fair  and  fault- 
less face  of  creation,  before  it  was  yet  marred  and  deformed 
by  sin.  Milton  has  given  to  it  all  the  colours  of  his  rich 
fancy,  and  to  him  I  refer  you.  But  I  must  not  fail  to  warn 
you  against  giving  in  to  any  of  the  fanciful  theories — 1  think 
them  impious  as  well  as  fanciful — which  you  may  perhaps 
meet  with  in  reading,  and  which  all  go  to  represent  the  Mo- 
saick account  of  the  creation  as  not  strictly  and  historically 
true.  One  of  these  writers  will  have  this  account  to  be  a 
mere  fable;  another,  not  a  fable  exactly,  but  a  mythos,  or 
scheme,  or  story  of  explanation ;  another,  an  allegory,  and  I 
know  not  what  beside.  Alas!  who  made  these  men  the  cor- 
rectors of  Moses,  the  great  prophet  of  God?     He  delivers 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  17T 

what  he  says  as  unquestionable  facts.  As  such  they  were  no 
doubt  revealed  to  him  by  God,  and  as  such  we  are  bound  to 
receive  them.  It  is  expressly  said — "Through  faith  we 
tmderstand  that  the  worlds  were  framed  by  the  word  of  God, 
so  that  things  which  are  seen  were  not  made  of  things  which 
do  appear." 

With  what  impressions,  my  young  friends,  you  may  have 
heard  this  discussion  on  creation,  which  I  am  now  to  close,  I 
know  not.  But  the  topick  itself  is  certainly  calculated  to  fill 
the  mind  with  solemn  and  devout  ideas. 

1.  What  a  view  does  the  work  of  creation  give  of  the 
power,  the  wisdom,  and  the  goodness  of  God  ?  Who  can  con- 
ceive of  that  power,  at  whose  bidding  the  material  and  imma- 
terial worlds  sprang  from  non-existence  into  being;  and  by 
which  they  are  constantly  upheld  !  How  resistless  is  this 
power!  How  safe  are  they  who  are  secure  of  its  protection  ! 
How  awful  the  situation  of  those  to  whom  it  is  hostile !  No- 
thing can  withstand  or  escape  it.  With  what  earnestness  and 
solicitude  should  every  human  being,  who  is  yet  in  the  place 
of  repentance,  seek  to  make  the  Almighty  God  his  friend? 

Again — Who  can  measure,  or  comprehend,  the  wisdom 
displayed  in  all  the  Creator's  works? — Every  thing  adapted 
to  its  intended  efiect,  and  all  harmonizing  in  perfect  order, 
and  in  perfect  subserviency  to  the  designs  of  the  great  Author 
and  Governor  of  all. 

Once  more — The  goodness  of  God  shines  throughout  the 
universe.  It  is  written  in  legible  characters,  on  all  his  works. 
All  have  a  tendency  to  promote  the  happiness  of  his  sensitive 
creatures.  "  He  openeth  his  hand  and  satisfieth  the  wants  of 
every  living  thing."  But  you,  my  young  friends — you  are 
formed,  not  for  the  enjoyment  only  of  this  passing,  momen- 
tary state,  but  as  probationers  for  a  felicity  as  lasting  as  the 
existence  of  God  himself.  Will  any  of  you  neglect  to  make 
sure  of  this  felicity?  Will  any  sacrifice  it  for  fugitive  grati- 
fications? Will  any  regard  it  as  less  than  "the  one  thing 
ueedful?"     No  language  can  express  the  madness  of  such 


17S  LECTURES    ON  THE 

folly.  0!  let  it  be  the  first  and  immediate  concern  of  all 
who  hear  me,  to  take  care  for  the  happiness  of  eternity. 

2.  But  the  subject  we  have  been  considering  leads  us  to 
reflect  on  the  imperative  obligations  to  duty,  gratitude  and 
love,  under  which  our  relation  to  God  has  placed  us.  He  is 
our  Creator:  He  made  us  what  we  are:  He  has  given  us  all 
that  we  possess:  He  upholds  us  in  being:  we  depend  on  him, 
every  moment,  for  all  that  we  enjoy,  and  for  all  that  we  can 
hope  for.  Has  he  not  a  clear  and  absolute  right  to  our  ser- 
vice, our  obedience,  our  gratitude,  our  love?  Can  any  thing 
be  so  wicked,  and  so  base,  and  so  rebellious,  as  to  refuse  to  obey 
and  love  him?  Is  he  not  worthy  of  our  warmest  affections, 
our  highest  esteem; — the  consecration  of  ail  our  powers,  of 
all  that  we  have  and  are,  to  his  service  and  glory?  Has  he 
made  us — not  like  the  brutes — but  more  like  the  angels — 
capable  of  knowing,  adoring,  worshipping,  and  enjoying  him- 
self, to  all  eternity?  And  shall  any  of  us  prostitute  these  capa- 
cities to  lower  and  baser  objects?  Shall  we  give  them  to  his 
rivals  and  enemies?  Shall  we  violate  all  the  strong  and  ten- 
der ties,  that  bind  us  to  a  true  allegiance — to  a  willing  and 
delightful  obedience — to  the  Sovereign  of  the  universe?  Shall 
we  not  rather  commence  at  once  the  enjoyment  of  God,  by 
holy  communion  with  him,  and  a  sweet  surrender  of  our 
whole  selves  to  his  rightful  demands?  Shall  we  not  thus 
begin  a  preparation  for  an  eternal  heaven,  while  we  draw  a 
present  portion  of  it  down  to  earth  ?  I  suggest  to  you,  my 
dear  young  friends,  some  of  my  thoughts,  in  this  questionary 
form.  The  questions  carry  with  them  their  own  answers: 
Or  rather  they  are  too  full  of  import  to  be  answered  in  words, 
or  even  in  thought.  We  can  never  conceive,  either  of  the 
folly  and  danger  of  having  God  for  our  enemy,  or  of  the 
wisdom  and  happiness  of  making  him  our  friend. 

Do  not,  I  entreat  you,  satisfy  yourselves  with  mere  specu- 
lations on  the  important  subjects  which  I  am  bringing  before 
you.  Your  attendance — your  manifest  diligent  and  serious 
attendance  here — is  indeed  gratifying.  But  I  cannot  endure 
the  thought,  that  your  knowledge  should  be  increased,  and 


SHORTER    CATECHISM.  179 

that  your  hearts  should  remain  unaffected — That  would  be 
only  to  increase  your  responsibility,  and  to  aggravate  your 
final  condemnation.  Let  every  subject  we  discuss  be  fol- 
lowed with  serious,  with  devout  meditation;  with  application 
to  your  hearts  and  consciences;  with  fervent  prayer  that  it 
may  be  blessed  to  your  everlasting  benefit.  So  treat  the  sub- 
ject of  your  attention  this  evening.  Retire  meditating  on 
God;  on  yourselves,  as  the  work  and  creatures  of  God;  and 
on  the  indispensable  duty  that  you  owe  him. — Go  thus  to 
your  families  and  your  closets;  and  there  worship  the  God 
whose  you  are,  and  whom  you  ought  to  serve.  Make  him 
in  Christ  Jesus,  your  covenant  God;  that  thus  you  may  be 
prepared  to  dwell  Tor  ever  in  his  immediate  and  blissful  pre= 
sence. — Amen. 


LECTURE  xir. 

Hoiv  did  God  create  Man? 

The  subject  of  our  present  lecture  is  the  tenth  answer  of 
our  Catechism,  expressed  in  these  words :  "  God  created  man 
male  and  female,  after  his  own  image,  in  knowledge,  right= 
eousness,  and  holiness,  with  dominion  over  the  creatures," 

1.  God  created  man.  I  have  already  had  occasion  to 
treat  of  creation  in  general,  and  of  the  formation  of  the  first 
parents  of  our  race.  But  as  the  Catechism  againresumes  the 
subject  in  its  particular  relation  to  man,  so  this  is  exactly 
agreeable  to  what  vve  find  in  the  sacred  records.  The  account 
of  the  other  parts  of  creation  is  there  cursory  and  general. 
The  account  of  the  creation  of  man  is  more  full  and  particular. 
It  was  for  man  that  the  earth,  and  all  which  it  contains,  was 
formed.  Of  all  terrestrial  things,  man  alone  can  know  and 
understand  his  origin,  and  adore  the  hand  which  gave  him 
being.  Of  the  origin  of  man  therefore,  more  was  to  be  told 
than  merely  that  he  was  made.     Indeed  my  young  friends. 


ISO  LECTURES  ON  THE 

there  is  nothins^  which  shows  the  di2;iiity  of  your  nature  in 
the  scale  of  being  more  strikingly,  than  the  account  which  is 
given  of  this  transaction  in  your  Bible.  When  the  world 
was  formed  and  completely  furnished  for  his  residence,  a 
council  of  the  Godhead  is  held  on  the  creation  of  man — '•  Let 
us  make  man."  Man  was  to  be  God's  viceroy  in  this  lower 
world,  the  only  image  of  his  Creator  in  his  moral  perfections; 
and  it  was  the  purpose  of  God,  though  not  then  revealed,  that 
the  second  person  of  the  Godhead  should  become  man;  and 
hence  the  solemnity  of  the  transaction,  and  of  the  account 
which  is  given  of  it — "  Let  us  make  man,  in  our  image,  after 
our  likeness." — What  can  be  the  intention  of  this  remarkable 
use  of  language  in  the  plural  number,  on  this  occasion?  We 
have  already  given  some  explanation  of  it.  But  let  us  ex- 
amine it  a  little  more  closely. 

There  are  only  three  ways  of  accounting  for  this  manner  of 
expression  that  deserve  a  serious  attention  ;  and  indeed  it  is 
only  the  last  of  the  three,  that  can  have  any  thing  that  is  even 
plausible  said  in  its  favour. 

The  first  is,  that  the  Deity  is  here  represented  as  using  the 
royal  style,  agreeably  to  what  takes  place  in  modern  times, 
in  which  kings,  or  sovereigns,  speak  of  themselves  in  the 
plural  number.  But  Poole,  in  his  Synopsis  on  the  passage, 
quotes  Aben  Ezra,  one  of  the  most  profound,  learned,  and 
candid,  of  all  the  Jewish  Rabbies,  as  denying  that  this  was 
ever  the  regal  style  among  the  Hebrews.  He  says  that  the 
regal  style  with  them,  was  to  use  the  second  and  third  per- 
sons of  the  singular  number — "  Thou  hast  done  it,"  in  speak- 
ing to  a  king — "  He  hath  done  it,"  when  a  king  spoke  of 
himself.  But  he  says  there  is  not  one  example  in  the  Jewish 
scriptures  or  writings,  of  a  king  or  sovereign  speaking  in  the 
first  person  plural — "  let  us  do  it" — or,  "  we  will  do  it.'' 
This,  one  would  suppose,  should  be  conclusive  on  this  point. 

The  second  supposition  is,  that  the  Deity  here  addresses  an- 
gels, or  some  other  creatures,  when  he  says,  "  let  us  make 
man."  But  this  is  monstrous  in  the  extreme.  Creation  is 
the  prerogative  of  God  alone,  as  the  scriptures  abundantly 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  181 

show;  and  "he  will  not  gjive  his  glory  to  another."  Tore- 
present  him  as  puttinsj  his  creatures  on  a  level  with  himself, 
and  associating^  them  with  himself  in  the  exercise  of  the  di- 
vine preroo;atives,  seems  to  savour  at  once  of  the  extravagance 
of  folly  and  the  extreme  of  impiety. 

As  the  expression  then  is  not  a  Hebraism,  and  cannot  be 
accounted  for  on  the  hypothesis  just  mentioned,  there  is  every 
reason  to  believe,  with  the  current  of  the  most  judicious  and 
pious  commentators,  that  it  is  a  direct  reference  to  the  Trinity 
of  persons  in  the  divine  essence: — That  they  are  here  repre- 
sented (to  speak,  as  we  are  permitted  to  do,  after  the  manner 
of  men)  as  consulting  and  uniting  in  the  formation  of  that  in- 
telligent being,  by  whom  in  the  issue,  the  glory  of  the  Triune 
God  was  to  be  so  illustriously  and  widely  displayed.  How 
should  every  human  being  reverence  himself,  when  he  thinks 
of  this  origin!  How  should  he  feel  himself  bound,  by  the  most 
sacred  ties,  to  glorify  God,  in  his  body  and  his  spirit  which 
are  God's! 

It  may  be  proper  to  remark  on  the  clause  of  the  answer 
now  under  consideration,  that  the  whole  work  of  creation  was 
completed  on  the  sixth  day.  I  notice  this,  because  in  the  se- 
cond chapter  of  Genesis,  there  is  a  particular  account  of  the 
formation  of  woman,  which  seems  to  come  in  after  the  first 
Sabbath.  This  however  is  nothing  more  than  a  peculiarity  of 
manner  in  the  Hebrew  writers. — They  are  often  found  first 
to  record  a  series  of  facts,  rapidly  and  shortly,  and  afterwards 
to  take  up  one  of  the  most  important  items,  and  consider  it  in 
detail. 

2.  God  created  man  male  and  female.  The  sacred  text 
informs  us  that  "  he  called  them  Adam."  Here  it  may  be 
proper  to  remark,  that  Hebrew  proper  names  are  all  significa- 
tive. Adam,  in  that  language,  denotes  earthy ;  and  both  the 
man  and  woman  were  named  Jidam  or  earthy ^  to  remind 
them  of  their  original.  Thus,  after  the  fall,  it  was  said — - 
"  dust  thou  art  and  to  dust  thou  shalt  return."  The  circum- 
stance that  woman  was  formed  out  of  man,  and  not  immedi- 
ately from  the  earth,  did  not  render  the  declaration  improper. 


182  LECTURES  ON  THE 

Their  common  ultimate  origin,  as  to  their  bodies,  was  the 
earth, — their  souls  were  immediately  from  God.  Henry,  in 
his  commentary  on  the  formation  of  woman,  has  a  remark 
which,  notwithstanding  its  quaintness,  I  have  often  admired 
for  its  justness  and  comprehension.  It  contains  what  some 
writers  might  have  expanded  to  a  volume,  and  yet  not  have 
said  as  much.  "  The  woman  (says  Henry)  was  made  of  a  rib 
out  of  the  side  of  Adam :  not  made  out  of  his  hea^j  to  top 
him;  not  out  of  his  feet  to  be  trampled  upon  by  him  ;  but  out 
of  his  side  to  be  equal  with  him ;  under  his  arm,  to  be  pro- 
tected;  and  near  his  heart  to  be  beloved.^^  The  words  7nan 
and  womari,  in  the  Hebrew  language,  differ  in  nothing,  ex- 
cept in  the  feminine  form  of  the  latter  term.  This,  it  is  be- 
lieved, was  intended  to  intimate  that  man  and  woman  are  not 
only  of  the  same  nature,  but  so  to  speak,  the  counterparts  of 
each  other.  The  name  Eve,  that  is  Life,  was  not  given  to 
our  first  mother  till  after  the  fall.  It  was  then  given  by  her 
husband  Adam,  doubtless,  I  think,  by  divine  direction;  be- 
cause, says  the  sacred  record,  "  she  was" — i.  e.  was  to  be — 
*'•  the  mother  of  all  living."  In  this  short  reason,  there  is  an 
intimation  that  the  sentence  o^  death,  which  had  been  incur- 
red, was  not  to  be  forthwith  executed;  that  the  offending  par- 
ties should  not  only  live  themselves,  but  according  to  the 
original  benediction,  should  "  increase  and  multiply  and  re- 
plenish the  earth ;"  and  that  from  Eve  should  descend  the 
promised  Messiah,  emphatically  denominated,  for  an  addi- 
tional reason,  '*the  seed  of  the  woman;"  in  whom  all  the  na- 
tions of  the  earth  should  be  blessed,  and  all  his  people  obtain 
a  life  which  should  be  eternal. 

The  sexes  having  a  common  origin,  were  formed  to  pro- 
mote the  happiness  of  each  other.  The  true  relation  of  the 
sexes,  is  most  beautifully  and  justly  described  by  Milton— 

"Two  of  far  nobler  shape,  erect  and  tall, 
Godlike  erect,  with  native  honour  clad, 
In  naked*  majesty  seemed  lords  of  all, 

*  <=  Why  should  our  garments,  made  to  hide 
Qur  parents'  shame,  provoke  our  pride  ? 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  183 

And  worthy  seemed ;  for  in  their  looks  divine 
The  image  of  their  glorious  Maker  shone, 
Truth,  wisdom,  sanctitude  severe  and  pure. 
(Severe,  but  in  true  filial  freedom  placed) 
Whence  true  authority  in  men  ;  tho'  both 
Not  equal,  as  their  sex  not  equal  seemed ; 
For  contemplation  he  and  valour  formed, 
For  softness  she  and  sweet  attractive  grace , 

He  for  God  only,  she  for  God  in  him — 

*  *  *  *  *  *        ' 

So  hand  in  hand  they  passed,  the  loveliest  pair 
That  ever  since  in  love's  embraces  met ; 
Adam  the  goodliest  man  of  men  since  born 
His  sons,  the  fairest  of  her  daughters  Eve." 

The  sacred  institution  of  maiTiag;e  was  formed  in  Paradise 
itself:  and  here  a<5ain  Milton  shall  be  your  instructor — 

"  Hail  wedded  love,  mysterious  law,  true  source 

Of  human  offspring,  sole  propriety 

In  Paradise,  of  all  thinp^s  common  else. 

By  thee  adult'rous  Just  was  driv'n  from  men 

Among  the  bestial  herds  to  range  ;  by  thee, 

Founded  in  reason,  loyal,  just,  and  pure, 

Relations  dear,  and  all  the  charities 

Of  father,  son,  and  brother,  first  were  known." 

In  their  orlaiinal  formation  there  was  one  man  and  one  wo- 
man. That  this  was  intended  to  denote,  from  the  equality  of 
the  sexes,  that  to  the  end  of  time,  the  marriage  relation  should 
subsist  only  between  two  persons,  one  of  each  sex,  there  can 
be  no  reasonable  doubt.  Our  Lord  himself  plainly  intimates 
this,  in  his  prohibition  of  capricious  divorce;  though  his  main 
object  in  that  prohibition  was  to  forbid  such  a  divorce.  Po- 
lygamy is  indeed  of  ancient  origin,  and  is  at  this  day  preva- 
lent, among  those  nations  of  the  eastern  world  that  are  not 
Christian.    Yet  the  most  ancient  records,  both  sacred  and  pro- 


The  art  of  dress  did  ne'er  begin, 
Till  Eve  our  mother  learn'd  to 


sin. 


When  first  she  put  that  cov'ring  on, 

Her  robe  of  innocence  was  gone ; 
And  yet  her  children  vainly  boast 

In  the  sad  marks  of  glory  lost."  Watt; 


184  LECTURES  ON  THE 

fane,  represent  the  original  state  of  things  to  have  been,  the 
union  for  life  of  one  man  and  one  woman.  Goquet,  in  his 
origin  of  laws,  fully  establishes  this  point;  and  the  remark- 
able equality  of  the  sexes  in  all  ages,  shows  that  this  must  be 
the  law  of  nature. 

Some  modern  travellers  indeed,  have  maintained  that  this 
equality  is  not  found  in  the  eastern  countries.  They  affirm 
that  the  females  there,  are  to  the  males  in  certain  places,  as 
three  or  four  to  one.  For  myself,  I  much  suspect  that  this 
account,  if  not  whx)Ily  fabulous,  is  greatly  exaggerated.  It  cer- 
tainly requires  much  more  confirmation  than  it  has  ever  yet 
received.  But  on  the  supposition  of  its  truth,  I  should  think 
it  would  afford  the  strongest  of  all  evidence  of  the  ill  effects 
of  polygamy;  because,  as  this  was  not  the  original  state  of 
things,  and  certainly  does  not  take  place  where  polygamy  is 
not  practised,  there  would  be  every  reason  to  believe  that  this 
unhappy  inequality  itself  had  originated  from  polygamy,  and 
ought  to  be  prevented  by  removing  its  cause.  The  existence 
of  polygamy  among  the  ancient  patriarchs  is  no  evidence  of 
its  lawfulness.  It  is  no  where  warranted  in  scripture,  but 
only  tolerated  as  an  inveterate  evil,  which  was  permitted  to 
remain  during  an  imperfect  dispensation. 

In  European  and  Christian  nations,  the  small  inequality 
which  really  exists,  is  found  in  the  greater  number  of  males 
than  females.  The  males  are  to  the  females  as  13  to  12,  or 
perhaps,  more  accurately,  as  20  to  19.  The  small  surplusage 
of  the  male  sex,  it  has  been  justly  observed,  seems  intended 
to  supply  the  greater  waste  of  that  sex  by  war,  and  by  other 
hazardous  occupations.  This  equality  of  the  sexes  in  all  ages, 
is  one  of  the  most  striking  proofs  and  examples  of  that  parti- 
cular providence,  which  is  constantly  extended  to  all  the 
works  of  the  great  Creator. 

3.  God  created  man  after  his  own  image.  Man  in  his 
bodily  organization,  particularly  in  his  erect  form,  is  different 
from  the  inferior  animals.  This  has  been  the  theme  of  song 
with  the  heathen  poets.*     When  it  is  said  however,  that  man 

■■  Os  homoni  sublime  dedid."  &c,— Ovid,  Met. 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  185 

was  created  in  the  image  of  God,  there  is  probably  no  refer- 
ence whatever,  either  figurative  or  literal,  to  his  bodily  form. 
We  are  forbidden  even  to  imagine  a  resemblance  between  the 
Creator  and  any  modification  of  matter  whatsoever.  Man's 
being  made  in  the  image  of  God  therefore,  must  refer  entirely 
to  the  incorporeal  part  of  our  nature.  (1.)  The  soul  of  man 
is  a  spiritual  being.  In  this  it  resembles  his  Maker,  who  is 
a  pure  and  infinite  spirit.  The  intellectual  part  of  man  is  in- 
deed to  the  infinite  intelligence  of  God,  but  as  a  ray  or  parti- 
cle of  light  to  the  sun.  But  as  every  beam  of  light  bears  a 
resemblance  to  the  sun,  so  does  every  human  soul  bear  a  spi- 
ritual resemblance  to  its  Creator. 

(2.)  The  soul  of  man  is  immortal.  It  will  never  die. — 
Look  forward  to  a  period  as  distant  in  futurity  as  your  ima- 
ginations can  carry  you.  Over  the  whole  space  which  di- 
vides that  period  from  the  present  moment,  each  of  your 
souls  will  actually  pass:  and  when  there  arrived,  an  eternity 
will  be  still  before  you — You  will  only  have  entered  upon  it. 
Each  of  you  has  commenced  a  course  of  being  that  is  strictly 
endless.  You  cannot  terminate  your  own  existence;  nor  can 
any  other  created  being  extinguish  it.  God  formed  the  hu- 
man soul  to  endure,  from  its  creation,  as  long  as  himself.  In 
this  respect  man  is  formed  in  the  image  of  his  Maker. 

(3.)  As  man  resembles  his  Creator  in  the  nature  of  his 
soul,  so  he  also  does  in  its  exercises  or  acts.  Mere  matter  is 
incapable  of  intelligence ;  and  the  mere  animal  creation  want 
the  endowments  pf  reason  and  judgment.  Man  can  reason, 
compare,  and  judge;  he  can  will,  choose  and  refuse;  he  is 
capable  of  great,  probably  of  an  endless,  progression  or  im- 
provement in  knowledge.  In  these  intellectual  endowments 
and  exercises,  he  bears  some  resemblance  to  the  great  foun- 
tain of  wisdom  and  intellectual  excellence. 

(4.)  And  chiefly — Man,  in  his  original  formation,  bore  the 
likeness  of  his  Maker,  in  his  moral  powers.  In  these  he 
was,  in  his  measure,  the  image  of  his  God.  But  on  this  most 
important  point  the  Catechism  specifies  particulars,  to  which 

2  A 


186  LECTURES  ON  THE 

we  shall  shortly  come  in  course.     At  present  we  proceed  to 
notice — 

4.  That  God  created  man  in  knowledge.  Among  the  other 
absurdities  which  attend  all  the  infidel  schemes  of  accounting 
for  the  origin  of  man,  is  that  which  relates  to  knowledge. 
They  represent  the  race  as  having  originated  in  such  a  state 
of  perfect  ignorance — as  beginning  from  such  a  degraded  ori- 
gin (little  if  at  all  superior  to  the  brutes),  that  it  is  impossible 
to  tell  on  their  hypothesis,  how  the  race  was  gvqy  preserved ; 
to  say  nothing  of  its  rising  to  its  present  state  of  improve- 
ment. Man  in  infancy  is  more  helpless,  and  longer  helpless, 
than  any  mere  animal.  He  requires  instruction  for  every 
thing — even  in  the  choice  of  his  food,  and  how  to  distinguish 
that  which  is  wholesome  from  that  which  is  poisonous  and 
destructive;  and  how  to  protect  himself  against  the  inconve- 
niences of  the  elements  and  seasons.  On  the  supposition  that 
a  number  of  men  had  been  formed,  as  destitute  of  information 
as  many  of  these  fanciful  hypotheses  suppose,  there  is  every 
reason  to  conclude  that  the  whole  race  would  have  become 
extinct,  before  it  had  reached  to  a  second  generation. 

Revelation  informs  us  that  man  was  created  in  knowledge. 
He  was  informed  and  instructed  by  his  Creator.  As  he  was 
intended  for  improvement,  and  this  improvement  to  arise 
from  the  exercise  of  his  powers,  I  cannot  adopt  the  opinion 
of  some  estimable  writers,  that  the  knowledge  conveyed  to 
him  by  information,  in  regard  to  natural  subjects,  was  of 
the  most  extensive  kind.  But  something  he  needed  for  the 
preservation  of  his  being,  and  something  more,  as  the  ele- 
ments or  materials  for  after  improvement;  and  all  this,  we 
have  no  reason  to  doubt,  was  communicated.  He  was  taught 
how  to  select  his  food,  and  to  preserve  himself  from  danger 
and  inconvenience;  he  was  informed  of  the  powers  and  de- 
sign of  his  own  nature,  and  the  nature,  properties,  and  powers 
of  the  inferior  creatures.  That  Adam  gave  names  to  these 
creatures  we  are  expressly  informed  ;  and  they  were  names 
(for  so  the  original  text  imports)  that  were  expressive  of  the 
natures  of  these  creatures  severally. 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  187 

But  the  knowledge  of  the  most  importance  which  was 
communicated  to  our  first  parents,  was  of  a  spiritual  kind. 
Of  his  Creator  there  is  no  cause  to  doubt  that  the  first  man, 
before  his  fall,  had  higher  and  juster  conceptions,  than  have 
been  possessed,  on  this  side  the  grave,  by  any  of  hisofispring. 
Before  the  human  mind  was  darkened  and  debased  by  sin, 
man  we  must  suppose  had  the  most  sublime  and  delightful 
conceptions  of  God,  and  intercourse  with  him.  He  was  also 
instructed  in  the  will  of  God.  He  knew  that  abstinence  from 
the  tree  of  knowledge  was  the  test  of  his  obedience.  He 
knew  that  death  was  to  be  the  consequence  of  sin,  and  that 
immortal  felicity  was  to  be  the  reward  of  obedience.  He 
knew  that  he  was  in  a  state  of  trial,  and  that  if  he  passed  it 
successfully,  he  would  exchange  it  for  a  state  of  safety,  as 
well  as  of  reward.  He  knew  that  he  was  the  head  and  re- 
presentative of  all  his  posterity;  and  that  they  were  to  share 
with  him  in  all  the  consequences,  either  of  fidelity  or  of  de- 
fection. All  this  I  think  we  are  warranted  to  say,  by  the 
clear  light  of  revelation. 

5.  Man  was  created  in  righteousness.  This  was  not  an 
imputed  righteousness.  Sinless  man  did  not  need  this.  His 
righteousness,  at  his  first  formation,  was  altogether  personal 
and  inherent.  It  consisted  in  a  perfect  conformity  of  all  the 
powers  and  faculties  of  his  soul  to  the  pure  nature  of  God, 
and  to  the  moral  law  which  was  written  on  his  heart.  His 
understanding  was  most  delightfully  employed  on  the  divine 
perfections;  and  on  the  will,  the  government,  and  the  works 
of  the  great  Creator.  His  will  followed,  most  readily  and 
delightfully,  all  the  dictates  of  his  understanding,  and  most 
cordially  chose  and  preferred  all  that  God  required.  His  af- 
fections were  set,  in  due  proportion,  on  every  lawful  object, 
and  had  no  tendency  to  fix  on  anything  unlawful.  He  loved 
what  God  loved,  and  was  averse  from  all  that  God  prohibited. 

6.  It  is  added  that  man  was  created  in  holiness.  It  is  not 
easy  to  show  in  what  this  consisted,  as  distinct  from  the  right- 
eousness just  mentioned.  Fisher,  in  his  catechism,  says  it 
consisted  in  "the  lustre  and  beauty  of  his  perfect  knowledge 


188  LECTURES  ON  THE 

and  inherent  righteousness;  shining  both  in  his  heart  and 
life."  And  truly,  my  children,  there  must  appear  to  every 
contemplative  mind,  a  moral  beauty  in  the  whole  character 
and  state 'of  innocent,  holy  man,  which  it  is  most  delightful 
to  contemplate.  God  and  holy  angels  did  behold  it  with  ap- 
probation, and  Satan  with  hellish  envy  and  malignity. 

7.  God  gave  to  man  dominion  over  the  creatures.  Before 
the  fall  these  were  all  harmless,  and  man  was  authorized  to 
use  them  for  his  convenience  and  pleasure.  None  of  them 
would  ever  have  rebelled  against  man,  or  been  disposed  in 
any  way  to  annoy  or  injure  him,  but  for  sin.  Nor  is  there 
reason  to  believe  that  the  inferior  animals  would  ever  have 
been  used  for  food,  if  man  had  retained  his  innocence.  Pro- 
bably indeed,  they  were  not  used  for  food,  till  after  the  gene- 
ral deluge;  since  then  an  express  permission  was  given  by 
God  to  Noah  and  his  descendants,  to  use  them  for  this  pur- 
pose. Their  first  use  by  man,  subsequently  to  the  fall,  seems 
to  have  been  for  sacrifice.  ProjDably  the  beasts  with  whose 
skins  Adam  and  Eve  were  clothed,  after  their  apostacy,  had 
been  offered  in  sacrifice.  That  bestial  sacrifice  constituted 
the  acceptable  offering  of  righteous  Abel,  we  are  distinctly 
told. — Thus  early  was  typified,  that  great  atoning  sacrifice  of 
the  Son  of  God,  by  which  alone  fallen  man  is,  or  can  be,  re- 
stored to  the  favour  of  his  Maker. 

The  inferior  animals,  in  various  ways,  feel  the  effects  of 
man's  transgression.  This  is  a  subject  both  curious  and  dif- 
ficult, into  which  we  cannot  now  enter, — it  may  hereiafter 
claim  some  attention.  We  have  seen  that  we  have  the  divine 
permission  to  use  the  inferior  anim.als  for  food.  We  have 
also  a  right  to  avail  ourselves  of  the  strength  and  labour  of 
such  of  them  as  can  be  employed,  to  diminish  or  assist  the 
toil  of  man.  But  all  mere  sporting  with  the  lives  or  feelings 
of  any  of  these  animals--the  infliction  upon  them  of  unne- 
cessary pain  or  suffering,  either  while  they  live,  or  when  we 
take  their  lives — all  this  is  unwarranted  by  our  common 
Creator — It  is  wanton,  wicked  cruelty,  contrary  to  God's  re- 
vealed will,  and  to  every  dictate  of  humanity.     It  ought  to 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  189 

be  rememberedj  that  in  the  fourth  commandment,  provision 
is  made  for  the  rest  of  labouring  beasts,  as  well  as  of  man; 
and  I  have  dwelt  a  short  time  on  this  topick,  although  it  has 
carried  me  a  little  beyond  the  answer,  because  I  think  it  is 
far  less  regarded  than  it  ought  to  be;  and  because  the  culti- 
vation of  humane  and  tender  feelings  toward  the  brute  crea- 
tion, is  very  important  to  youth — connected  far  more  inti- 
mately, I  am  persuaded,  with  moral  sensibility  and  moral 
obligations,  than  is  generally  supposed. 

On  a  review  of  what  has  been  said  on  the  subject  before 
us,  let  us — 

1.  Think  for  a  moment  on  the  original  state  of  man, 
compared  with  the  state  in  which  he  has  been  found  ever 
since  his  fall.  In  his  primitive  state,  his  body  was  incapable 
of  disease,  and  of  dissolution.  It  was  formed  for|l|^wasting 
vigour  and  immortal  duration.  When  death  is  called  the 
law  of  our  nature,  it  must  be  understood  only  of  our  /alien 
nature.  For  if  man  had  remained  in  innocence,  death  would 
have  been  unknown.  In  innocence  too,  as  we  have  already 
remarked,  the  faculties  of  his  mind  were  all  perfect,  rightly 
balanced,  and  entirely  harmonious;  all  holy,  and  sweetly 
employed  in  the  love,  service,  obedience,  and  enjoyment  of 
the  great  Creator.  But  alas!  ^Uhe  crown  is  fallen  from  our 
head — the  gold  has  become  dim,  and  the  fine  gold  is  changed." 
What  ravages  have  been  made  by  sin,  on  this  master-piece  of 
the  six  days'  work  of  God  on  earth  !  Man  is  now  subject  to 
poverty,  pain,  disease,  and  death.  His  mental  powers  are 
even  in  worse  disorder  than  those  of  his  bodily  frame.  His 
passions,  no  longer  subject  to  his  reason  and  understanding, 
hurry  him  into  ever)^  excess.  His  animal  appetites  often  do- 
mineer over  all  the  higher  powers  of  his  nature.  He  is  cor- 
rupt and  polluted  throughout,  by  a  deep  moral  contamination. 
In  his  natural  state,  he  is,  in  the  strong  language  of  scripture, 
"dead  in  trespasses  and  sins,"  and  "a  child  of  wrath." 

But  .2d — The  design  of  the  redemption  by  Christ  is,  to  re- 
store to  man  the  moral  image  of  his  God,  which  he  lost  by 
the  fall.     Christ  Jesus,  as  the  second  Adam,  repairs  the  ruins 


190  LECTURES  ON  THE 

of  the  first  He  not  only  reconciles  man  to  his  offended 
Maker,  but  in  the  very  process  of  this  reconciliation,  his 
Ploly  Spirit  begins  a  work  in  the  human  soul,  which,  when 
completed,  will  render  man  as  pure  and  sinless  as  our  first 
parents  were,  in  their  holiest  and  happiest  state.  This  is  the 
real  design  and  the  true  tendency  of  the  gospel  dispensation: 
and  this  is  its  ultimate  and  certain  effect,  in  every  instance 
in  which  it  is  applied  agreeably  to  its  design.  In  every  in- 
stance in  which  a  redeemed  sinner  becomes  vitally  united  to 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  he  becomes  a  certain  candidate  for  a 
state  of  dignity,  purity,  intelligence,  and  happiness,  not  only 
as  great  as  Adam  enjoyed  in  Eden,  but  far  greater:  for  the 
glory,  knowledge,  and  felicity,  of  the  heavenly  world,  are 
certainly  much  greater  than  were,  or  could  be,  enjoyed  in  the 
terrestri^l^paradise. 

Now  my  dear  youth,  since  such  is  the  design,  and  such  the 
certain  effect  of  the  gospel  when  cordially  embraced,  say  if 
it  is  not  passing  strange,  that  men  should  so  generally  reject 
it — Oh!  is  it  not  mournful,  is  it  not  affecting,  is  it  not  to  the 
last  degree  distressing,  that  we  cannot  prevail  on  lost,  ruined, 
defiled,  perishing  sinners,  to  be  competely  restored! — to  em- 
brace God's  merciful  method  of  deliverina:  them  from  their 
ruined  condition — of  reversing  it  completely,  and  making 
them  the  companions  of  angels.  And  will  any  of  you  do 
this?  Ah!  you  have  done  it.  And  will  any  of  you  conti- 
nue to  do  it.-^ — continue  a  course  which  will  consign  you  to 
hopeless  sinning,  and  sorrowing,  and  suffering,  with  the  first 
infernal  tempter,  and  with  all  whose  ruin  he  has  since  ef- 
fected. 

Could  I  lead  you  from  this  house  into  the  paradise  and  the 
felicity  from  which  our  first  parents  were  banished,  would  you 
not  be  willing  to  follow  me?  Could  I  tell  you  that,  in  the 
suburbs  of  this  city,  God  had  opened  anew  the  garden  of 
Eden,  and  had  sent  me  here  this  evening  to  conduct  into  it  all 
who  would  consent  to  go — which  of  you,  crediting  the  state- 
ment, would  refuse  to  go?  Would  any — would  one  refuse? 
What  will  you  say  then,  when  I  tell  you  most  truly,  that  I 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  191 

am  here  this  hour,  authorized  by  God,  to  make  you  a  better 
offer? — to  invite  you  to  a  better  paradise  than  ever  bloomed 
in  Eden.  Yes,  I  am  here  under  the  commission  of  the  ascend- 
ing Saviour — "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach  the  gos- 
pel to  every  creature.  He  that  believeth  and  is  baptized  shall 
be  saved,  and  he  that  believeth  not  shall  be  damned."  How 
awful  is  the  alternative  stated  in  the  commission  itself!  But 
dear  youth,  there  is  no  other — verily  there  is  no  other.  You 
cannot  say,  and  make  it  good,  that  you  will  have  nothing  to 
do  either  with  the  salvation  or  with  the  damnation,  which  is 
mentioned  in  this  commission  of  Christ  Jesus  to  his  ministers. 
You  must  have  to  do  with  this  alternative.  You  cannot  avoid 
it.  You  must  choose  on  the  one  side  or  the  other.  If  you  say 
you  will  not,  that  saying  itself  makes  the  choice.  Yes,  that 
saying  is  the  awful  choice  of  the  bad  part  of  the  alternative. 
It  is  the  choice,  whether  you  will  or  not,  of  damnation.  "  He 
that  BELIEVETH  NOT  shall  be  damned."  You  must  not — de- 
liberately you  cannot,  so  choose.  Come  then,  listen  to  the 
voice  of  God's  mercy  in  the  gospel.  Listen  to  it  without  de- 
lay; listen  to  it  this  evening,  this  hour,  this  moment.  From 
the  seats  on  which  you  now  sit,  send  up  a  devout  and  fervent 
aspiration  to  God,  to  enable  you  immediately  to  begin  to  live 
for  heaven.  In  God's  strength,  resolve  that  you  will  do  so. 
Resolve  and  pray,  and  pray  and  resolve,  at  every  step — Then 
God  will  assuredly  help  you.  You  will  be  led  in  the  way 
everlasting — Your  minds  will  be  enlightened;  your  hearts 
will  be  softened  and  subdued;  you  will  be  filled  with  genuine 
sorrow  for  sin;  you  will  become  true  penitents;  you  will  be 
led  to  the  Saviour;  you  will  make  him  your  all  in  all;  you 
wilt  be  changed,  in  your  measure,  into  his  likeness;  you  will 
possess  something  of  his  spirit  and  temper;  you  will  follow 
his  example:  and  by  him  you  will  be  conducted  safely  through 
life  and  through  death  ;  and  then  you  will  rise  to  the  paradise 
above,  and  live,  and  reign,  and  rejoice,  with  him  for  ever  and 
ever.     Amen, 


192  LECTURES  ON  THE 


LECTURE  XHI. 

Wliat  are  God's  ivorks  of  Providence? 

The  eleventh  answer  of  our  catechism  is — *^  God's  works 
of  providence  are  his  most  holy,  wise  and  powerful,  preserv- 
ing and  governing,  all  his  creatures  and  all  their  actions." 

In  discussing  this  subject,  we  shall,  as  heretofore,  pay  a 
particular  regard  to  the  several  clauses  in  the  answer  recited ; 
yet  we  shall  not  take  them  in  the  exact  order,  in  which  they 
are  there  placed.     Our  method  will  be — 

I.  To  show  the  nature,  and  prove  the  existence  of  the  di- 
vine Providence — It  consists  in  preserving  and  governing  the 
whole  creation. 

II.  To  consider  the  extent  and  operations  of  this  provi- 
dence— It  reaches  to  all  the  creatures  of  God,  and  to  all  their 
actions. 

III.  To  dwell  a  little  on  the  character  of  this  providence — 
It  is  most  holy,  wise  and  powerful. 

IV.  To  make  a  few  miscellaneous  remarks,  chiefly  of  a 
practical  kind,  on  the  whole  subject. 

I.  Then,  I  am  to  show  the  nature,  and  prove  the  existence, 
of  the  divine  Providence — It  consists  in  preserving  and  go- 
verning the  creation. 

It  has  been  ably  argued  by  some  excellent  writers,  that  the 
preservation  of  the  universe  is  a  continued  exercise  of  crea- 
tive power.  Their  supposition  seems  to  be,  that  creature 
existence  is  a  kind  of  forced  state — that  as  matter  rose  out 
of  existence  at  the  command  of  the  Deity,  so  it  would  fall 
back,  or  return  to  non-existence,  if  not  constantly  sustain- 
ed in  being,  by  the  very  same  power  or  energy  which  first 
produced  it: — In  a  word,  that  preservation  is  equivalent  to  a 
constant  creation.  They  suppose  that  this  theory  is,  at  least, 
countenanced  by  scripture.     Thus,  in  the  first  chapter  of  the 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  193 

epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  the  inspired  writer  connects  together 
the  creation  of  the  worlds  by  the  Son  of  God,  and  his  "  up- 
holding all  things  by  the  word  of  his  power," — and  in  such 
manner,  it  is  supposed,  as  to  represent  the  latter  as  a  conti- 
nuance of  the  former  act. 

But  whether  providence  or  preservation  imply  a  constant 
creation  or  not,  it  seems  plain  that  there  must  be  a  continual 
exertion  of  divine  power,  in  order  to  those  movements  and 
operations  which  constantly  take  place  in  the  material  world. 
Matter  is  of  itself  inert.  This  is  always  considered  as  one  of 
its  essential  properties.  Yet  it  moves  incessantly,  and  is  con- 
tinually receiving  innumerable  new  modifications,  or  changes 
of  form.  The  established  order  in  which  this  takes  place, 
we  call  the  laws  of  nature.  But  what  do  we  understand  by 
the  laws  of  nature?  I  have  heretofore  observed,  that  if  we  do 
not  understand  by  this  expression  the  will  and  agency  of  the 
Creator^  it  will  be  hard  to  affix  any  determinate  meaning  to 
the  words.  The  laws  of  nature  must,  ultimately,  be  nothing 
else  than  that  known  and  settled  order  of  the  divine  agency, 
in  which  he  immediately  operates,  or  exerts  his  power,  on 
the  material  world.  Thus  the  laws  of  gravitation,  and  the 
laws  of  the  various  other  kinds  of  attraction — :of  magnetism, 
of  electricity,  of  cohesion,  of  aggregation,  and  of  the  nu- 
merous chemical  affinities — set  bounds  to  our  knowledge, 
in  regard  to  the  motion  of  matter,  from  causes  apparently 
inherent  in  itself.  We  know  that  it  uniformly  moves  in 
these  ways,  which  we  call  its  laws.  But  we  know  no 
more.  We  perceive  not  the  proximate  cause  of  these  mo- 
tions. Possibly  there  are  several  causes,  nearer  than  any  yet 
known,  to  the  first  cause.  But  suppose  that  there  are,  and 
that  several  of  these  still  hidden  causes  should  be  discovered, 
the  ultimate  first  cause  must,  after  all,  be  the  will  and  agency 
of  the  Deity.  His  agency,  extended  throughout  the  whole 
material  world,  directing  and  guiding  all  its  movements  and 
modifications,  and  throughout  the  whole  sentient  world,  sus- 
taining and  governing  it,  and  providing  for  the  propagation 
and  continuance  of  all  animated  nature — is  what  we  mean,  in 

2   B 


194  LECTURES  ON  THE 

general,  by  the  providence  of  God.  That  the  divine  Provi- 
dence really  produces  these  effects,  is  a  part  of  natural  reli- 
gion; and  is  almost  as  well  laid  down  and  illustrated  by  some 
of  the  heathen  moralists,  as  by  any  other  uninspired  writers. 
To  suppose  that  the  wonderful  revolution  of  the  heavenly 
bodies,  the  succession  of  the  seasons,  the  products  of  the  earth, 
the  principle  of  life  in  animals,  and  the  preservation  of  every 
function  of  the  animal  economy  in  its  proper  office — to  sup- 
pose that  all  this  is  the  effect,  either  of  chance,  or  of  any  prin- 
ciple in  matter,  considered  by  itself,  is  as  contrary  to  reason 
and  sound  philosophy,  as  it  is  to  scripture — We  have  no  evi- 
dence of  the  fact,  and  all  analogy  is  against  it.  To  the  eye  of 
contemplative  and  sober  reason,  willing  to  discern  its  Creator, 
a  present  God  Is  recognised  in  all  that  we  behold.  "In  him 
we  live,  and  move,  and  have  our  being."  "  No  words  (says 
Doddridge)  can  better  than  these,  express  that  contmual  aiid 
necessary  dependance  of  all  derived  things,  in  their  existence, 
and  in  all  their  operations,  on  their  j'?r5^  and  almighty  cause, 
which  the  truest  philosophy,  as  well  as  theology,  teaches.'^ 
St.  Paul  in  using  these  words,  addressed  to  the  Athenians,  re- 
ferred to  one  of  their  own  poets:  and  if  the  heathen  notion 
that  God  is  the  anima  mundi,  or  soul  of  the  world,  had  im- 
plied no  more  than  this,  the  notion  would  have  been  just. 

Divine  revelation  is  full  of  the  doctrine  we  inculcate.  The 
wonderful  "  order  and  harmony  among  such  a  vast  variety  of 
creatures  in  the  world,  continuing  for  so  many  ages,  notwith- 
standing their  different  and  opposite  natures;  the  orderly  re- 
turn of  seed  time  and  harvest;  the  rise  and  fall,  and  revolu- 
tions of  kingdoms;  the  accomplishment  of  future  events, 
exactly  according  to  the  prediction  of  them  long  before;  and 
the  preservation  of  a  church  on  earth,  in  opposition  to  all  the 
powers  of  darkness,  and  the  malice  and  efforts  of  wicked 
men" — these  the  sacred  scriptures  teach  us  to  consider,  as 
evidences  of  the  existence  of  a  superintending  Providence: 
And  whoever  considers  them  attentively,  cannot  fail  to  see  in 
them,  the  truth  of  this  important  doctrine  of  religion.  The 
civ.  Psalm  contains  throughout,  a  most  sublime  and  impres- 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  195 

sive  description,  both  of  the  creating  power  and  constant 
superintending  providence,  of  Jehovah.  We  proceed  to  con- 
sider— 

II.  The  extent  and  operations  of  the  divine  providence— It 
reaches  to  all  the  creatures  of  God,  and  to  all  their  actions. 

There  are  not  a  few  who  readily  admit  what  they  call  a 
general  providence,  but  deny  that  which  is  particular. 
They  admit  that  God  governs  the  world  by  general  laws,  and 
yet  will  by  no  means  admit  that  his  agency — scarcely  that 
his  notice — extends  to  minute  events  and  occurrences.  They 
seem  to  suppose  that  it  is  unworthy  of  God,  to  take  such  a 
notice  of  inconsiderable  objects.  But  alas!  these  objectors  to 
a  particular  providence,  are  the  very  men  who  think  unwor- 
thily of  God  ;  and  who  speak  most  unworthily  of  him,  when 
they  represent  him  as  unattentive  to  the  least  of  his  creatures, 
or  to  their  concerns.  It  does  indeed  require  a  painful  effort, 
and  it  is  esteemed  a  degrading  employment,  for  men  to  at- 
tend, in  detail,  to  minute  concerns.  But  the  Yery  perfection 
of  the  Deity  consists  in  his  being  able,  with  perfect  ease,  to 
order  all  the  concerns  of  his  boundless  dominions.  To  him 
indeed  no  creature  can  be  considered  as  either  great  or  small; 
because  to  an  infinite  being,  all  finite  things  are  as  nothing. 
Yes,  all  our  comparisons  and  proportions,  sink  to  nothing  be- 
fore the  infinite  God — 

"  To  Him  no  high,  no  low,  no  great,  no  small, 
He  fills,  he  bounds,  connects,  and  equals  all. 

He  sees  with  equal  eye,  as  God  of  all, 
A  hero  perish,  or  a  sparrow  fall; 
Atoms,  or  systems,  into  ruin  hurl'd, 
And  now  a  bubble  burst,  and  now  a  world" 

On  the  doctrine  of  a  particular  providence,  the  scripture  is 
very  explicit.  Our  blessed  Saviour  taught  it,  in  the  most 
impressive  manner,  to  his  disciples.  He  taught  that  ^'  the 
very  hairs  of  our  head  are  all  numbered;'^  that  "a  sparrow 
falleth  not  to  the  ground  without  our  heavenly  Father."  Yes, 
my  young  friends,  you  are  to  consider  your  sex,  your  situa^ 
tion  in  life,  your  endowments  of  body  and  mind,  your  pros- 


196  LECTURES  ON  THE 

pects  of  wealth  or  of  want,  every  event  that  has  befallen  you, 
all  the  mercies  and  all  the  chastisements  that  you  have  ever 
received,  all  your  preservations  from  death  and  danger,  all 
your  Christian  privileges  and  all  your  hopes  for  eternity — all, 
all,  are  to  be  considered,  as  having  been  meted  out  to  you,  by 
the  God  of  providence.  To  him  you  are  to  be  thankful  for 
your  mercies ;  to  him  you  are  implicitly  to  submit  under  all 
afflictions;  to  him  you  are  to  look  in  all  your  necessities;  and 
to  him  you  are  permitted  and  invited  to  flee  for  refuge,  in  all 
your  dangers  and  distresses — Against  him  you  are  never  to 
murmur,  for  he  doth  all  things  well :  and,  if  it  be  not  your 
own  fault,  all  that  God  orders  for  you,  will  turn  out  for  your 
happiness  in  the  end. 

In  considering  the  extent  and  operations  of  divine  provi- 
dence, we  meet  with  the  very  same  difficulty,  as  in  consider- 
ing the  decrees  of  God.  This,  indeed,  is  only  a  continued 
or  varied  view  of  that  subject.  It  is  by  his  providence  that 
God  executes  his  decrees.  His  providence,  without  inter- 
fering with  the  freedom  of  man,  or  in  the  least  diminishing 
his  responsibility,  does  certainly  extend  to  all  creatures,  and 
to  all  their  actions.  The  sun  never  shone  on  another  deed  so 
tremendously  impious,  as  the  crucifixion  of  our  blessed  Re- 
deemer. Yet  hear  what  is  said  of  this, — Acts  ii.  23 — "  Him, 
being  delivered  by  the  determinate  counsel^  and  foreknow- 
ledge of  God,  ye  have  taken,  and  by  wicked  hands  have  cru- 
cified and  slain." — Again,  in  the  4th  chapter — "For  of  a 
truth,  against  thy  holy  child  Jesus,  whom  thou  hast  anoint- 
ed, both  Herod  and  Pontius  Pilate,  and  the  Gentiles,  and  the 
people  of  Israel, Vere  gathered  together;  for  to  do  lohatso- 
ever  thy  hand  and  thy  counsel  determined  before  to  he 
done.^^  Here  this  voluntary,  awful,  guilty  act,  is  said  to  be 
"  by  the  determinate  counsel,  foreknowledge,  and  hand  of 
God."  We  do  assuredly  know,  that  God  does,  in  no  sense 
or  degree,  lead  men  into  sin.  The  apostle  James  warns  us 
on  this  subject. — "  Let  no  man  say,  when  he  is  tempted,  I 
am  tempted  of  God ;  for  God  cannot  be  tempted  with  evil, 
neither  tempfeth  he  any  man.     But  every  man  is  tempted, 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  197 

when  he  is  drawn  away  of  his  own  lusts,  and  enticed."  Here 
you  perceive  distinctly,  the  two  principles  so  repeatedly  no- 
ticed by  us  of  late — The  wicked,  fulfilling  the  purpose  and 
providence  of  God,  and  yet  acting  with  perfect  freedom,  and 
with  all  the  guilt  of  their  actions  on  their  own  heads.  Now 
although  as  we  have  shown,  that  this  is,  as  to  the  manner  of 
it,  inexplicable  by  us  at  present,  yet  it  is  surely  comfortable  to 
know,  that  all  wicked  beings  are  in  the  hand  of  a  good, 
righteous,  and  holy  God;  that,  as  in  the  case  of  Job,  they  can 
go  no  farther  than  he  permits;  and  that  he  will  make  the 
wrath  of  men  to  praise  him,  and  restrain  its  remainder. 

One  other  important  idea  to  be  noticed  in  this  division  of 
our  subject  is,  that  there  is  no  such  thing  under  the  divine 
government,  or  providence,  as  real  chance  or  accident. 
What  is  so  called  by  us,  and  what,  in  conformity  with  our 
habits  or  modes  of  expression,  is  so  called  in  one  instance,  in 
holy  scripture,  where  it  is  said  that  "  time  and  chance  happen 
to  all,"  is  still  directed  with  as  much  certainty,  by  the  provi- 
dence of  God,  as  any  events  whatsoever.  Nothing  can  be 
more  a  matter  of  chance  than  a  lot.  Yet  of  this  it  is  expli- 
citly declared — "The  lot  is  cast  into  the  lap,  but  the  whole 
disposing  thereof  is  of  the  Lord."  This,  surely,  is  a  most 
cheering  doctrine.  What  could  be  more  gloomy,  than  to  be- 
lieve that  our  dearest  interests,  even  life  itself,  might  lie  at 
the  mercy  of  blind  or  misguided  chance?  On  the  contrary, 
how  consoling  to  know,  that  nothing  can  befal  us,  nothing 
injure  us,  without  the  direction,  or  permission,  of  our  heaven- 
ly Father.     We  are  now — 

III.  To  consider  the  character  of  the  divine  providence ; — 
that  it  is  most  holy,  wise,  and  powerful. 

1.  It  is  most  holy.  All  the  providential  acts  or  dispensa- 
tions of  God,  are,  like  himself,  perfectly  righteous,  equitable, 
just  and  good.  This,  as  a  general  truth,  we  have  just  now 
noticed.  But  I  wish  in  this  place  to  direct  your  attention 
particularly,  to  some  appearances  that  seem  hostile  to  this 
truth.  In  every  age  of  the  world,  there  have  been  a  number 
of  providential  dispensations,  both  in  regard  to  communities 


198  LECTURES  ON  THE 

and  individuals,  which  to  human  view  have  seemed  difficult 
to  reconcile  with  equity  and  goodness.  Some  of  these  dis- 
pensations, have  appeared  to  be  in  violation  of  all  that  was 
just  and  right.  The  wicked  and  oppressive  have  seemed  to 
be  smiled  upon  and  prospered,  and  the  good  and  deserving, 
to  be  frowned  upon  and  made  to  suffer.  It  was  this  that 
proved  so  sore  a  temptation  to  St.  Asaph,  as  may  be  seen  in 
the  73d  Psalm.  We  ought  to  solve  this  difficulty  or  tempta- 
tion as  Asaph  did,  by  calling  to  mind  that  the  present  is  a 
state  oi  probation,  and  not  of  reward — That  God  will  eter- 
nally bless  his  people  in  a  better  world,  and  make  all  their 
sufferings  increase  their  future  happiness;  while  the  wicked 
shall  be  punished  for  all  their  wickedness,  and  especially  for 
the  abuse  of  their  prosperity.  It  has  been  well  observed,  on 
this  subject — ^*  that  God  sometimes  punishes  the  wicked  in  a 
signal  manner,  in  the  present  life,  to  show  that  there  is  a  pro- 
mdence;  and  sometimes  permits  them  to  go  wholly  unpun- 
ished, to  show  that  there  must  be  a  future  state,'' 

It  should  however  be  noted  here,  that  adverse  providences 
are  sometimes  wonderfully  reversed  and  overruled  for  good, 
even  in  the  present  life.  We  know  that  it  is  recorded  of  Job — 
the  greatest  merely  human  sufferer,  of  which  we  have  an  ac- 
count in  sacred  story — that  "  the  Lord  blessed  the  latter  end 
of  Job,  more  than  the  beginning."  And  thousands  in  every 
age  have  borne  testimony  to  the  truth,  that  crosses  and  disap- 
pointments for  a  season,  have  been  the  means  of  lasting  pros- 
perity and  happiness  afterwards;  while  on  the  contrary,  tem- 
porary success,  or  gratification,  has  proved  in  the  end  the 
greatest  and  most  lasting  calamity.  This  topick  has  been 
most  strikingly  illustrated,  even  by  a  heathen  poet.  The  tenth 
Satire  of  Juvenal — so  admirably  imitated  or  parodied,  by  Dr. 
Johnson — is  the  work  to  which  I  refer,  and  which  I  recom- 
mend to  your  perusal. 

Sometimes  too,  it  should  be  observed,  the  apparently  in- 
equitable dispensation  takes  its  whole  aspect  simply  from  our 
ignorance — our  ignorance  of  certain  facts,  which  if  we  had 
known,  we  should  have  seen  the  greatest  propriety  and  beauty 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  199 

in  the  whole  procedure.  Many  fables  or  apologues  have  been 
invented  to  illustrate  this  point.  That  of  Parnel  is  excellent. 
The  followins:,  by  Mr.  Addison,  is  1  think  striking.  It  is,  as 
well  as  I  remember,  to  this  effect — He  says  that  the  Jews 
have  a  legend,  that  during  the  forty  days  which  Moses  spent 
in  Mount  Horeb,  he  was  permitted  to  propose  some  inquiries, 
in  regard  to  the  darkness  of  God's  providential  dispensations. 
He  was  commanded  to  look  to  the  foot  of  the  mount.  He 
did  so,  and  saw  a  fountain  of  water,  at  which  a  soldier  was 
alighting  from  his  horse  to  drink.  In  remounting,  the  sol- 
dier unknowingly  dropt  a  purse  of  money,  which,  a  few  mi- 
nutes after  he  was  gone,  a  child  picked  up,  and  carried  away 
in  haste.  Scarcely  was  the  child  out  of  sight,  when  an  old 
man,  bending  under  the  weight  of  years,  and  weary  with 
travelling,  sat  down  to  refresh  himself,  on  the  brink  of  the 
fountain.  In  the  mean  time,  the  soldier,  having  missed  his 
purse,  returns  in  search  of  it — suspects  the  old  man  of  having 
found  and  concealed  it,  and  insists  on  his  restoring  it.  The 
old  man  protests  that  he  has  not  seen  it,  and  in  the  most  so- 
lemn manner  appeals  to  God,  as  the  witness  of  his  innocence. 
But  the  soldier  disbelieving  him,  kills  him  on  the  spot. 
Moses  is  shocked,  and  inquires  where  is  the  equity  of  this 
dispensation  of  providence!  The  answer  was — The  child  is 
indeed  the  cause  of  the  old  man's  death  ;  but  know  thou,  that 
this  old  man  was  the  murderer  of  that  child's  father. 

After  all,  there  are  some  dispensations  of  providence  so  dark, 
that  perhaps  we  can  scarcely  conceive  how  the  equity  of  them 
can  be  made  out,  except  that  we  do  certainly  know  that  God 
can,  and  will,  correct  in  a  future  state,  all  the  inequalities  and 
apparently  inequitable  allotments  of  the  present.  These  dark 
dispensations  are  no  doubt  intended  to  be  trials  of  the  faith 
and  patience  of  God^s  joeojile,  in  their  passage  through  the 
world.  Whenever  his  providential  dealings  seem  to  be  con- 
trary to  his  word — seem,  I  say,  for  they  never  are  really  con- 
trary— it  is  the  office  and  the  excellence  of  faith,  to  trust  and 
cleave  to  the  divine  word,  in  opposition  to  all  appearances. 
This  it  was  that  gave  its  peculiar  value  to  Abraham's  faith. 


200  LECTURES  ON  THE 

We  have  no  reason  to  doubt  that  it  will  constitute  a  part  of 
the  happiness  of  heaven,  to  have  all  dark  providences  fully 
cleared  up  ;  and  to  be  able  to  see  the  equity  and  goodness,  yea 
the  kindness  and  mercy,  of  all  that  here  was  obscure,  and  per- 
plexing, and  hard  to  be  borne. 

2.  Another  character  of  God's  providence  is,  that  it  is  wise. 
On  this  it  will  not  be  necessary  to  dwell  long,  since  it  is  im- 
plied in  what  has  already  been  said,  and  is,  in  general,  ex- 
ceedingly obvious.  Wherever  we  turn  our  eyes — whether 
to  the  heavens,  to  the  earth,  or  to  ourselves — we  see  at  once 
the  wisdom  of  our  Maker  and  Preserver.  It  is  strikingly  ap- 
parent, not  only  in  the  original  structure  of  what  we  behold, 
but  in  the  wonderful  manner  in  which  every  process  and 
operation  is  carried  on  and  continued,  and  in  which  the  wants 
of  every  living  thing  are  consulted,  provided  for  and  supplied 
— Or  if  we  examine  the  moral  world,  the  same  wisdom  is  not 
less  conspicuous.  Good  is  brought  out  of  evil,  light  out  of 
darkness,  and  order  out  of  confusion.  The  jarring  passions, 
views,  interests,  and  pursuits  of  men,  are  so  overruled  and  di- 
rected, as  to  be  made  to  issue  invariably,  in  the  accomplish- 
ment of  the  designs  of  heaven. 

3.  The  providence  of  God  \?, powerful.  "  He  doth  accord- 
ing to  his  will,  in  the  army  of  heaven,  and  among  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  earth :  none  can  stay  his  hand,  or  say  unto  him, 
what  doest  thou  ?"  How  often  do  we  see  the  greatest  events 
growing  out  of  the  most  inconsiderable  beginnings,  or  brought 
about  by  what  would  have  appeared  to  us  the  most  inadequate 
means  and  instruments?  In  the  striking  language  of  ancient 
prophecy — "  Worm  Jacob  is  made  to  thresh  the  mountains, 
and  beat  them  small,  and  make  the  hills  as  chaff."  From 
what  small  beginnings  did  the  Christian  religion  proceed, 
which  is  now  filling  the  world  }  How  few  events  have  been 
productive  of  such  great  changes,  of  almost  every  description, 
as  the  Protestant  reformation?  Yet  this  reformation  was 
chiefly  effected  by  the  instrumentality  of  an  obscure  Augusti- 
nian  monk — for  such  was  Martin  Luther,  when  he  com- 
menced the  great  and  glorious  work,  which  he  was  preserved 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  201 

and  honoured  to  accomplish.  On  the  other  hand,  the  best 
concerted  plans,  and  the  most  powerful  preparations  of  earth- 
ly princes,  have  been  often  turned  to  confusion  and  brought 
to  destruction?  by  causes  which  were  overlooked  or  despised. 
Whom  God  will  protect,  none  can  injure.  Whom  God  will 
destroy,  none  can  save.  '^  If  God  be  for  us,  who  can  be 
against  us!" 

IV.  I  am  now  to  make  a  few  miscellaneous  remarks,  chiefly 
of  a  practical  kind,  on  the  subject  before  us. 

I.  You  will  sometimes,  it-is  probable,  meet  with  a  distinc- 
tion made,  between  ordinary  and  extraordinary  providences. 
By  ordinary  providencQs,  you  are  to  understand  those  occur- 
rences which  take  place  agreeably  to  the  established  laws  of 
nature.  By  extraordinary  providences,  miracles  are  usually 
intended — This,  indeed,  is  their  proper  character.  It  re- 
quired no  more  power  to  make  the  sun  stand  still,  in  the  time 
of  Joshua,  than  is  required  to  make  it  rise  and  set  daily — The 
latter  is  only  ordinary,  the  former  was  extraordinary. 

Another  distinction  is  sometimes  made,  between  common 
and  special  providences.  By  common  providences  are  usu- 
ally understood,  such  events  as  we  are  accustomed  to  expect 
and  experience,  in  the  established  use  of  means.  By  special 
providences,  such  as  seem  to  take  place  without  means,  or  in 
opposition  to  means,  or  in  a  manner  different  from  what  usu- 
ally takes  place  in  similar  circumstances.  It  is  a  common 
providence,  wlien  health  is  preserved  by  wholesome  diet, 
temperance,  exercise,  and  the  avoidance  of  contagion.  But 
when  a  man  lives  in  health,  from  day  to  day  and  month  to 
month,  in  the  midst  of  pestilence  and  death,  this  is  by  a  spe- 
cial providence.  Special  providences  ought  always  to  be 
noted  with  care,  and  acknowledged  with  peculiar  gratitude  to 
God.  But  it  is  presumption  to  act  on  the  expectation  that  a 
special  providence  will  be"  exercised  for  our  preservation. 
Such  dispensations  must  be  wholly  left  to.  the  award  of  a  sove- 
reign God.  It  is  only  the  divine  blessing  on  the  ordinary  use 
of  means,  on  which  we  can  lawfully  calculate. 

2.  Sometimes  in  God's  providential  dealings,  a  crime  is  as 

2c 


202  LECTURES  ON  THE 

it  were  distinctly  written  in  its  punishment — the  offender  is 
punished  in  kind;  he  is  taken  in  his  own  toils;  he  is  en- 
snared and  corrected,  or  destroyed,  by  his  own  wiles  ;  his 
"  violent  dealings  come  down  upon  his  own  pate."  Indivi- 
duals may  best  judge  of  this,  in  regard  to  the  divine  dealings 
with  themselves;  but  it  is  not  often  that  we  should  attempt 
to  judge  of  them  in  the  case  of  others — Some  strongly  marked 
cases,  there  may  indeed  be.  But  we  are  taught  in  Scripture 
carefully  to  abstain  from  all  rash  judgments,  in  the  way  of  in- 
ferring crime  from  suffering.  This  was  the  error  of  the  friends 
of  holy  Job,  who  were  eventually  reproved,  while  he  was  ac- 
quitted. Our  Lord  pointedly  reprehended  it  with  reference 
to  the  Galileans,  whose  blood  Pilate  had  mingled  with  their 
sacrifices,  and  to  those  on  whom  the  tower  in  Siloam  fell  and 
slew  them.  We  know  not  what  may  be  the  designs  of  God, 
in  the  particular  afflictions  or  chastisements  of  our  brethren. 
It  may  be,  that  he  is  intending — what  certainly  we  ought  to 
wish — to  prepare  them,  in  the  school  of  adversity,  to  be  par- 
takers at  last  of  his  special  favours. 

3.  A  truly  devout  Christian  will  often  see  remarkable  an- 
swers to  his  prayers,  in  providential  occurrences  which  relate 
to  himself  and  others.  This  we  are  clearly  and  impressively 
taught  in  scripture,  in  various  places ;  especially  by  the  apos- 
tle James,  where  he  refers  to  the  example  of  Elijah,  and  as- 
sures us  that  "  the  effectual  fervent  prayer  of  a  righteous  man 
availeth  much."  What  the  scriptures  teach  on  this  subject, 
christian  experience  abundantly  confirms.  Sometimes  the 
answer  to  prayer  is  so  distinct,  so  speedy,  and  so  merciful,  as 
to  astonish  the  believing  suppliant — to  fill  his  heart  with  gra- 
titude and  his  lips  with  praise.  We  are  not  however  to 
reckon  on  these  speeedy  and  distinctly  marked  answers  to 
prayer;  but  leave  it  with  God,  to  answer  in  the  time  and  way 
which  to  Him  may  seem  best. 

"  Still  raise  for  good,  the  supplicating  voice, 

But  leave  to  heaven,  the  measure  and  the  choice." 

It  is  our  duty  however  in  all  cases,  to  follow  our  prayers 


SHORTER    CATECHISM.  203 

with  expectation  ;  to  mark  their  answer,  and  be  thankful  for 
it  when  it  is  received. 
Hence  I  remark — . 

4.  Observation  on  the  course  of  providence,  is  calculated  to 
make  a  wise,  as  well  as  a  pious  man.     Indeed  the  course  of 
providence,  is  but  another  name  for  the  course  of  human  af- 
fairs.    He  who   carefully  observes  what  has   usually  taken 
place  in  the  aflfairs  of  men,  may  commonly  foresee  and  foretell 
what,  in  like  circumstances,  will  again  take  place:  and  he 
who  .has  a  belief  in  the  providence  of  God,  will  of  course  at- 
tribute all  to  him;  and  when  special  or  remarkable  provi- 
dences occur,  the  finger  of  God  will  be  seen  and  acknow- 
ledged in  them  all.     It  was  among  the  many  excellent  traits 
in  the  character  of  the  father  of  our  country,  the  illustrious 
Washington,  that  he  observed,  and  often  acknowledged- pub- 
lickly  and  distinctly,  the  special  providences  of  God,  which 
were  so  often  apparent  in  the  early  periods  of  pur  history  as  a 
nation.     And  I  will  take  this  opportunity  to  remark  to  you, 
that  history — profane  as  well  as  sacred, — incontestably  demon- 
strates, that  the  frowns  of  Heaven  have  often  remarkably  rest- 
ed on  those  generals  and  statesmen,  who  did  not  acknowledge 
the  providence  of  God  and  their  dependence  on  him ;  and  that 
his  smiles  have  usually  attended  those  who   did  recognise 
his  providence,  and  look  to  him  to  order  their  affairs  in  mercy. 
But  pious  Christians,  however  humble  in  their  lot,  will,  as 
they  grow  in  grace,  grow  especially  in  their  attention  to  the 
providence  of  God,  as  it  relates  both  to  themselves  and  others. 
They  will  learn  much,  and  be  comforted  greatly  by  observing 
it.     The  remark  of  the  pious  Flavel,  is  worthy  of  remem- 
brance— "  that  those  who  carefully  observe  favourable  provi- 
dences, shall  have  such  providences  to  observe." 

5.  Finally — Remember  my  young  friends,  that  a  sanctified 
providence  is  assured,  to  all  those  who  truly  love  and  serve 
God.  "  We  know,"  says  an  inspired  apostle,  "  that  all 
things  work  together  for  good,  to  them  that  love  God,  to  them 
who  are  the  called  according  to  his  purpose."  As  therefore 
you  are  now  in  the  morning  of  life,  let  it  be  your  first  and 


204  LECTURES  ON  THE 

great  concern,  to  make  the  God  of  providence  your  friend. 
In  this  you  will  find  a  comfort  and  a  support,  which  can  be 
derived  from  no  other  source.  To  see  a  father's  hand  in  the 
whole  ordering  of  your  lot  in  life — even  in  your  severest 
trials  and  sorest  afflictions — what  can  be  so  well  calculated  as 
this,  to  soothe  and  satisfy  the  mind;  to  make  it  rejoice  in  tri- 
bulation, and  to  give  a  double  relish  to  the  sweets  of  prosperi- 
ty itself?  Let  not  a  day  of  life  ever  pass,  in  which  you  do 
not  devoutly  and  solemnly  "  commit  your  way  unto  God," 
beseeching  him  "to  direct  your  path."  Implore  fervently 
the  smiles  and  blessing  of  God,  on  all  the  labour  of  your 
hands;  on  all  your  plans;  on  all  your  pursuits;  on  all  in 
which  you  engage.  Engage  in  nothing  in  which  you  cannot, 
with  humble  confidence,  look  up  to  God  to  be  with  you  and 
bless  you  in  it.  Go  to  no  place,  and  partake  in  no  amuse- 
ment, in  which  you  cannot  ask  for  God's  presence,  protection 
and  blessing,  to  attend  you.  This  is  an  excellent  rule  of  ac- 
tion. Keep  constantly  in  mind  that  your  life  is  in  the  hand 
of  God;  and  endeavour  so  to  live  from  day  to  day,  that  death 
may  not  overtake  you  by  surprise ;  but  may  be  welcomed, 
whenever  sent,  as  the  messenger  who  is  to  announce,  that 
your  Father  in  heaven  demands  your  presence  there.    Amen. 


LECTURE  XIV. 

What  special  act  of  Providence  did  God  exercise  toward  Man  in 
the  state  wherein  he  was  created? 

The  subject  of  the  present  lecture  is  thus  expressed  in  our 
catechism — "When  God  had  created  man^  he  entered  into  a 
covenant  of  life  with  him,  upon  condition  of  perfect  obedi- 
ence; forbidding  him  to  eat  of  the  tree  of  knowledge  of  good 
and  evil,  upon  the  pain  of  death." 

As  it  is  my  wish  in  this  course  of  lectures,  to  touch,  at 
least  cursorily,  on  as  many  topicks  as  I  properly  can,  a  know- 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  205 

ledge  of  which  may  be  of  use  in  the  study  of  the  scripture,  I 
shall  here  say  a  few  words  on  the  garden  of  Eden. — It  is  pro- 
per to  take  notice  of  it  here,  if  we  notice  it  at  all. 

Few  subjects  have  given  rise  to  more  fanciful  speculations, 
than  the  question  where  the  garden  of  Eden  was  situated.  It 
appears  to  have  been  the  intention  of  Moses  to  mark  out  the 
place — the  general  deluge  notwithstanding— in  such  manner 
that  his  cotemporaries  might  know  distinctly  its  location. 
But  the  face  of  the  earth  has  since  been  so  changed  by  a  va- 
riety of  causes,  that  it  is  not  possible  to  find^any  place  at  pre- 
sent, which  fully  answers  to  the  Mosaick  description.  In 
the  land  of  ChaJdea,  we  find  the  names  of  two  of  the  four 
rivers,  which  Moses  mentions  as  having  their  source  in  the 
garden  of  Eden — These  are  the  Euphrates  and  the  Hiddekel, 
or  Tigris.  At  some  distance  below  the  conflux  of  these  two 
rivers,  and  not  far  from  the  head  of  what  is  now  called  the 
Persian  Gulf,  we  may,  I  think,  with  the  most  probability, 
fix  the  site  of  the  garden  of  Eden.  A  little  below  this  site, 
the  stream  formed  by  the  junction  of  the  Euphrates  and  Hid- 
dekel is  again  parted;  and  the  eastern  branch  may  have  been 
the  Gihon,  and  the  western  the  Pison  of  Moses. 

The  garden  of  Eden,  in  its  primitive  state,  was  a  place  of 
exquisite  beauty,  and  calculated  for  affording  every  kind  of 
pleasure  and  enjoyment  to  sinless  man.  It  is  sometimes 
called  Paradise — the  Greek  term  for  a  garden  or  enclosure; 
borrowed  it  is  supposed  from  the  Persian,  and  which,  in  the 
New  Testament,  is  sometimes  used  to  denote  the  heavenly 
state  itself. 

The  terrestrial  Paradise  produced  all  manner  of  pleasant 
fruit;  and  the  business  of  our  first  parents  was,  to  dress  and 
keep  this  garden.  It  is  worthy  of  your  notice  and  remem- 
brance, that  even  in  a  state  of  innocence  man  was  formed  for 
industry ,  diudi  not  for  idleness.  The  garden  indeed  produced 
its  fruit  spontaneously — To  till  the  ground,  in  order  to  obtain 
its  increase,  was  a  part  of  the  curse  inflicted  for  transgression. 
But  to  preserve  and  dress  the  garden,  so  as  to  keep  it  in  its 


206  LECTURES  ON  THE 

pristine  order  and  beauty,  and  to  gather  its  fruit,  was  the  em- 
ployment of  man  in  innocence. 

In  this  garden  there  were  two  remarkable  trees, — the  tree 
oi  life,  and  the  tree  of  knowledge  of  good  and  evil.  These 
have  been  considered  as  the  two  sacraments,  appointed  for 
man  before  his  fall — the  seals  of  the  covenant  of  works;  the 
one  to  be  received,  the  other  to  be  avoided.  Their  nature 
we  shall  more  particularly  explain  in  the  sequel. 

Let  us  now  proceed  to  consider  the  first  clause  in  the  an- 
swer of  the  catechism — "  When  God  had  created  man,  he 
entered  into  a  covenant  of  life  with  him." 

The  Hebrew  word  nnD  (Berith,)  and  the  Greek  AtuStiKv 
(Diatheke,)  which  very  often  occur  in  the  holy  scriptures, 
and  of  which  I  have  heretofore  taken  some  notice,  are,  by 
our  translators,  commonly  rendered  by  the  English  word 
covenant.  This  word,  however,  in  the  scriptural  sense  of  it, 
is  not  exactly  the  same  which  it  bears  in  secular  transactions. 
A  covenant  among  men,  has  been  defined — "  A  mutual,  free 
compact  and  agreement,  betwixt  two  parties,  upon  express 
terms  or  conditions.'^  Notwithstanding,  however,  the  infi- 
nite distance  between  God  and  man,  it  appears  that  our  Crea- 
tor has  always  treated  with  our  race  in  the  way  of  covenant. 
It  is  indeed  true,  that  the  mere  will  of  God  when  made 
known  to  man,  must  be  a  law  to  him — whether  he  approve 
or  disapprove  of  that  will.  But  although  from  the  infinite 
perfection  and  goodness  of  God,  we  know  that  he  would 
never  require  of  m?in  any  thing  but  what  was  perfectly  rea- 
sonable and  right,  yet  we  find  that  in  fact  he  has  been  pleased 
to  take  the  consent  of  man  to  his  equitable  proposals;  that 
man  might  be  bound,  not  only  by  abstract  duty  and  autho- 
rity, but  also  by  his  own  consent  and  stipulation. 

The  Mosaick  account  of  what  was  done  in  constituting  the 
original  moral  state  of  man  is  very  short;  and  much  has  been 
written  and  said,  in  a  controversy  whether  it  was  properly  a 
covenant  transaction,  or  not.  But  by  comparing  the  state- 
ment made  by  Moses  with  other  parts  of  the  sacred  writings, 
it  appears  that,  so  far  as  any  transaction  between  the-  Creator 


SHORTER    CATECHISM.  207 

and  the  creature  can  properly  be  called  a  covenant,  this  cer- 
tainly was  one.  In  covenant  transactions  among  men,  the 
parties  indeed  must  be  both  free  and  equal;  and  in  this  re- 
spect, as  already  hinted^  the  sense  of  the  term  covenant,  in 
the  dealings  of  God  with  his  creatures,  must  be  somewhat 
different  from  its  import  in  regard  to  their  dealings  with  each 
other.  Yet  all  the  substantial  parts  of  a  covenant  are  mani- 
festly found  in  the  case  before  us.  Infinitely  holy,  just,  and 
good,  it  was  impossible  that  the  Creator  should  propose  to 
Adam  any  thing  that  was  not  in  the  highest  degree  equita- 
ble: And  while  Adam  was  perfectly  holy,  it  was  in  like 
manner  impossible  that  he  should  not  freely  choose,  and  en- 
tirely approve  of  the  equitable  proposal  of  his  Maker;  and 
bind  himself  to  obedience  by  every  obligation  or  sanction 
that  was  required.  This  was  accordingly  done;  and  thus  a 
covenant  was  formed  between  God  and  man,  in  a  state  of 
innocence. 

This  is  called  in  the  catechism  "a  covenant  of  life.'^  It  is 
also  often  called,  the  covenant  of'ivorks,  from  the  condition 
of  it — which  was  obedience  or  works.  Man  in  all  he  did,  or 
in  all  his  works,  was  to  obey  his  Maker.  It  is  called  the 
covenant  of  life,  because  life — eternal  life- — was  the  stipula- 
tion of  the  covenant,  on  the  part  of  God.  If  man  were  per- 
fectly obedient,  his  Maker  promised  him  an  endless  life  of 
perfect  happiness,  as  his  reward.  We  cannot  indeed  con- 
ceive that  any  innocent  moral  being,  under  the  government 
of  God,  should  ever  have  been  miserable.  But  the  promise 
of  eternal  life  to  Adam,  if  he  remained  faithful  during  the 
period  of  his  probation,  insured  to  him  a  higher-  measure  or 
degree  of  happiness  than  any  which  could  have  been  claimed 
or  expected,  if  God  had  not  promised  it  to  him  by  covenant. 
There  was  grace,  therefore,  on  the  part  of  God,  even  in  the 
covenant  of  works — grace  in  the  Creator  condescendins:  to 
treat  at  all  with  his  creature  in  the  way  of  covenant;  and 
grace  in  covenanting  to  raise  him  to  a  higher  state  of  happi- 
ness, if  obedient,  than  that  to  which  he  could  otherwise  ever 
have  risen.     This  strikingly  shows  the  equity  of  the  penal 


208  LECTURES  ON  THE 

part  of  the  covenant — the  infliction  of  such  an  awful  punish- 
ment as  was  the  consequence  of  disobedience. 

TTie  promise  of  life  is  indeed  not  explicitly  announced,  in 
the  very  compendious  account  given  us  in  Genesis  of  man's 
original  state:  but  it  is  clearly  implied  and  intimated  in  the 
threatening.  The  threatening,  or  penalty,  ran  thus — "  In 
the  day  thou  eatest  thereof,  thou  shalt  surely  die."  Here  the 
implication  distinctly  is, — if  thou  eatest  not  thereof,  thou 
shalt  surely  live.  And  the  same  truth  is  abundantly  taught 
in  other  parts  of  scripture. 

The  life  promised  to  man  on  obedience,  included  "the 
continuance  of  his  natural  life,  consisting  in  the  union  of  his 
soul  .and  body  ;  the  continuance  also  of  his  spiritual  life,  con- 
sisting in  the  favour  of  God;  and  his. entering  on  eternal  life 
in  heaven,  after  he  had  passed  through  the  time  of  his  trial 
upon  earth." 

Here  it  may  be  proper  to  consider  what  was  the  probable 
use,  and  special  design,  of  "the  tree  of  life."  We  know 
that  Adam  was  not  permitted  to  eat  of  it  after  his  fall.  If  he 
had  not  fallen,  the  probability  is,  that  when  his  period  of  pro- 
bation was  ended,  he  was  then  to  eat  of  it,  as  the  seal  of  his 
immortality  ',  and  afterwards  to  have  been  glorified,  both  in 
body  and  in  soul,  and  to  have  been  no  more  exposed  to  the 
danger  of  falling:  but  as  he  did  not  continue  faithful,  he  was 
not  permitted  to  take  this  symbol  and  seal  of  his  fidelity. 
Bishop  Home,  in  a  very  ingenious  discourse  on  the  tree  of 
life,  has  made  this  statement  more  probable,  from  a  compari- 
son of  several  parts  of  scripture,  than  you  would  readily  sup- 
pose.* 

Let  us  now  consider,  more  particularly,  that  the  condition 
of  the  covenant  of  life,  or  of  works,  on  the  part  of  man,  was 
perfect  obedience.  Man  was  fully  qualified  and  competent 
to  render  such  an  obedience:  for  the  moral  law  of  God, — the 
rule  of  duty,  of  good  and  suitable  conduct  towards  both  God 
and  man, — was  written  on  his  heart.     In  other  words,   "he 

*  See  Note,  at  the  end  of  the  lecture. 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  209 

had  a  full  knowledge  of  his  duty,  a  full  natural  and  moral 
ability  to  perform  it,  and  a  perfectly  holy  disposition  of 
heart,  whereby  he  was  sweetly  inclined  to  obedience.  ^  This 
complete  furniture  being  given  him  by  his  Maker,  his  obe- 
dience was  required  to  be  perfect.  He  was  to  keep  the  whole 
law  of  God,  both  in  heart  and  in  life,  with  a  faultless  exact- 
ness. He  was  to  believe  whatever  God  should  reveal,  and 
he  was  to  do  whatsoever  God  should  command.  The  whole 
will  of  his  Maker,  which  he  perfectly  knew  to  be  most  excel- 
lent, was  to  be  the  rule  by  which  his  affections  were  to  be 
guided,  and  his  conduct  to  be  directed,  without  the  smallest 
deviation.  As  the  test  of  this  sinless  obedience,  man  was  to 
forbear  eating  of  "the  tree  of  knowledge  of  good  and  evil.^' 
— Be  not,  my  young  friends,  of  the  number  of  those  who 
show  their  ignorance  of  their  Bible,  by  foolishly  and  pro- 
fanely talking  about  the  loss  of  Paradise,  by  the  eating  of  aa 
apple.  The  scripture  no  where  informs  us,  and  consequently 
it  can  never  be  known,  what  kind  of  fruit  it  was,  which  was 
borne  by  the  forbidden  tree.  We  are  only  told,  that  "the 
woman  saw  that  the  tree  was  good  for  food,  and  that  it  was 
pleasant  to  the  eyes,  and  a  tree  to  be  desired  to  make  one 
wise." 

An  inquiry  of  more  importance  is — why  this  tree  received 
the  name  it  bore — why  it  was  called  "  the  tree  of  the  know- 
ledge of  good  and  evil?"  I  answer — "by  the  law  is  the 
knowledge  of  sin."  By  the  very  prohibition  to  eat  of  this 
tree,  man  was  taught  that  it  was  good  to  obey,  and  evil  to 
disobey.  The  knowledge  of  the  good  of  obedience,  and  the 
evil  of  disobedience,  was  intimated  and  inculcated,  as  often 
as  he  looked  at  the  interdicted  tree.  It  stood  "  in  the  midst 
of  the  garden,"  that  he  might  often  see  it,  and  that  the  sight 
of  it  might  constantly  lead  him  to  say — "  there  is  the  tree, 
which  teaches  me  that  it  is  good  to  obey,  and  evil  to  dis- 
obey." This  I  take  to  be  the  true  design  of  the  name  it 
bore,  rather  than  that  which  is  sometimes  mentioned, — that 
after  he  had  eaten  of  it,  he  experimentally  knew  both  good 
a«d  evil ; — good  as  lost,  and  evil  as  found.     This  was  indeed 

2  D 


210  LECTURES  ON  THE 

the  effect  of  eating  the  forbidden  fruit,  and  it  might  have 
been  referred  to  in  the  name  given  to  the  tree.  But  it  ap- 
pears to  have  been  intended  to  teach  them  good  and  evil, 
without  the  painful  experience  of  losing  the  one,  and  incur- 
ring the  other — and  this,  as  I  have  said,  was  taught  by  the 
prohibition  itself.* 

It  is  also  proper  to  inquire,  whether  the  prohibition  to  eat 
of  this  tree  was  a  moral  precept  in  its  very  nature,  or  moral 
only  as  expressive  of  the  sovereign  will  of  God. — I  answer, 
that  the  precept  appears  to  have  derived  its  obligation  entirely 
from  the  sovereign  will  of  the  Deity.  "  There  could  be  no 
more  evil  in  eating  of  that  tree  than  of  any  other,  antece- 
dently to  the  command  of  God  forbidding  it :  but  after  that, 
it  was  no  more  indifferent,  but  highly  sinful  to  do  it."  And 
hence  perhaps  may  be  assigned  one  of  the  best  answers,  that 
can  be  given  to  another  inquiry,  namely, — Why  was  the  test 
of  man's  moral  state  mad-e  to  consist  in  such  a  circumstance 
as  eating,  or  not  eating,  of  a  particular  tree?  The  answer 
may  be,  that  when  the  thing  was  in  itself  indifferent,  obedi- 
ence was  grounded,  simply  and  wholly,  on  the  will  of  God: 
and  when  man's  obedience  was  yielded  to  the  mere  will  of 
his  Maker,  this  was  the  fullest  evidence  that  it  was  genuine 
obedience, — that  man  acknowledged,  unequivocally,  the  au- 
thority and  right  of  God  to  give  him  law ;  and  reposed  such 
perfect  confidence  in  his  goodness,  as  to  require  nothing  more 
to  direct  his  conduct  than  to  know  that  it  was  the  will  of  his 
Creator. 

Other  reasons  may  be  assigned,  not  different  from  this,  but 
auxiliary  to  it.  The  observation  is  certainly  just,  that  before 
the  fall,  "  there  were  so  few  relations,  that  there  could  be  no 
trial  upon  the  precepts  of  the  second  table.t  Adam  could  not 
be  put  on  the  trial  of  loving  his  neighbour  as  himself,  when 
he  had  no  neighbour  to  love.  What  was  actually  required, 
was  a  test  of  his  supreme  love  to  his  Creator,  and  confidence 


*  This  )s  well  illustrated  in  Bishop  Home's  fourth  discourse,  in  which  he 
acknowledges  himself  much  indebted  to  Vitringa. 
I  Witherspoon. 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  211 

in  him, — as  the  mere  authority  of  God  was,  as  we  have  seen, 
the  sanction.  "  It  was  also  a  just  and  natural  acknowledg- 
ment, that  the  creature  held  all  created  comforts  of  God," — 
so  that  he  must  not  even  touch  one  that  God  had  prohibited. 
It  likewise  "intimated  to  him,  that  the  favour  of  God,  and 
not  animal  gratification,  was  the  proper  felicity  of  his  nature; 
and  it  taught  him  not  to  consider  himself  at  the  summit  of 
his  happiness,  in  a  state  where  self-denial  was  required."  In 
a  word,  how  could  self-denial  be  both  exercised  and  mani- 
fested, in  a  perfectly  holy  being,  but  in  regard  to  the  gratifi- 
cation of  his  external  senses?  Thus,  when  examined,  it  ap- 
pears that  the  test  which  was  selected  was,  in  all  respects, 
that  which  was  most  proper.  We  must  however  constantly 
keep  in  mind — "that  merely  abstaining  from  the  tree  of 
knowledge  of  good  and  evil,  was  not  the  whole  duty  pre- 
scribed and  demanded  by  God;  but  that  the  demand  extended 
to  universal  obedience."  Considering  the  matter  in  this 
view,  you  will  perceive,  that  our  first  parents  actually  sinned 
and  rebelled  against  God,  before  they  performed  the  exter- 
nal action  of  eating  the  forbidden  fruit.  By  that  action, 
they  only  gave  unequivocal  proof,  that  they  had  before 
fallen  from  their  perfect  rectitude,  by  the  indulgence  of 
pride,  evil  thoughts,  and  heart-rebellion  against  their  Maker. 
It  only  remains  to  consider  the  penalty  of  the  covenant  of 
works — it  vv^as  the  pain  of  death.  There  is  every  reason, 
both  from  observation  and  scripture,  to  believe  that  the  pen- 
alty threatened  to  Adam  for  disobedience,  v/as  death  in  all 
the  various  and  fearful  significations  of  that  word — death  tem- 
poral, spiritual,  and  eter^ial.  There  is  indeed  scarcely  any 
thing,  against  which  men  of  corrupt  minds  have  more  vehe- 
mently contended  than  against  this.  But  the  mournful  fact 
is  ascertained  and  confirmed  by  the  whole  current  of  scrip- 
ture, and  by  the  actual  state  of  the  world.  Do  not  men  die? 
Who  denies  it?  Are  not  men,  without  exception,  depraved  ? 
Every  day's  experience  proves  it.  Where  is  the  human 
being  so  foolish  and  abandoned,  as  to  say  that  he  never  sin- 
ned, in  thought,  word,  or  deed  ?  Should  you  hear  such  a  de- 


212  LECTURES  ON  THE 

claration,  you  would  only  consider  it  as  proving  the  truth 
which  it  denied.  And  is  not  eternal  punishment  threatened 
to  sinners?  There  is  really  nothing  more  clearly  declared  in 
holy  scripture.  Now,  was  any  part  of  all  this  incident  to 
man,  before  the  fall?  No  certainly.  He  was  immortal;  he 
was  sinless;  he  was  to  be  eternally  happy.  How  comes  it 
then,  that  man  is  so  changed?  Why  does  he  die?  Why  is 
he  depraved?  Why  is  he  an  heir  of  wrath  ?  Beyond  all  per- 
adventure,  his  apostacy  from  God  is  the  cause  of  all.  This  it 
was  that  changed  the  primitive  state  of  man,  and  changed  it 
totally.  "By  one  man  sin  entered  into  the  world,  and  death 
by  sin;  and  so  death  passed  upon  all  men,  for  that  all  have 
sinned.'^ 

Some  have  supposed  that  there  was  some  natural  quality  in 
the  forbidden  fruit,  which  changed  the  state  of  man's  body, 
so  that  he  became  mortal.  This  is  certainly  a  mere  conjec- 
ture— There  is  not  the  least  evidence  from  scripture,  that  the 
forbidden  fruit  possessed  any  inherent  deleterious  properties. 
On  the  contrary,  as  already  intimated,  it  rather  appears  that 
the  fruit  was  indifferent,  till  it  was  prohibited.  The  worst 
effect  was,  that  man's  moral  poivers  were  changed  and  pros- 
trated; and  this  could  not  be  effected  by  the  mere  natural 
operation  of  any  material  substance. 

It  appears  then  that  the  threatened  penalty  was — 
(1)  Temporal  death: — the  body  should  die  and  return  to 
dust.  (2)  spiritual  death : — the  loss  of  his  original  righteous- 
ness and  the  favour  of  God.  (3)  Eternal  death  :— the  exclu- 
sion of  soul  and  body  from  God  and  happiness  for  ever. 
Such  was  the  awful  penalty  threatened  for  sin  :  And  however 
dreadful  it  may  appear,  my  young  friends,  it  certainly  was  a 
just  and  equitable  penalty.  You  may  know  it  was  so,  from 
the  character  of  the  infinitely  good  Being  who  denounced  it. 
In  one  respect,  without  controversy,  sin  is  an  infinite  evil — 
It  is  objectively  infinite :  that  is,  it  is  an  offence  committed 
against  an  infinite  God; — infinite  in  his  being,  in  his  good- 
ness, and  in  his  worthiness  to  be  perfectly  loved  and  obeyed. 
It  is  not  for  those  who  have  committed  this  awful  and  malig- 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  213 

nant  offence,  to  undertake  to  decide  how  much  punishment  it 
deserves.  They  ^yq parties  most  deeply  interested  in  endea- 
vouring to  mitigate  their  offence,  and  its  penal  consequences. 
Their  very  offence  too — sin  itself — has  blinded  their  minds, 
and  perverted  their  judgment.  God  who  cannot  be  deceived, 
and  who  is  infinitely  good  and  merciful,  as  well  as  wise  and 
just,  has  decided  that  "  the  wages  of  sin  is  death" — death  in 
all  the  varieties  of  its  form  and  terror. 

Let  me  close  this  lecture  therefore,  with  cautioning  and  ex- 
horting you,  not  to  be  seduced  by  any  speculations  or  reason- 
ings, which  go  to  diminish  the  evil  of  sin.  It  was  observed 
to  me  early  in  life,  by  a  very  profound  and  sagacious  divine, 
that  if  I  would  make  it  an  object  of  particular  attention,  I 
should  find,  that  almost  all  important  errors  in  religion  might 
be  distinctly  ti-aced  to  a  light  sense  of  the  evil  of  sin.  A 
careful  observation,  I  can  truly  say,  has  fully  confirmed,  and 
deeply  impressed  on  my  mind,  the  justice  of  this  remark. 
Take  an  illustration,  in  a  single  instance — Say  that  sin  is  an 
inconsiderable,  or  venial  evil :— then  sorrow  or  repentance 
for  it  will,  with  a  good  and  compassionate  Being,  insure  its 
pardon — It  needs  no  atonement;  and  needing  to  make  no 
atonement,  it  was  not  necessary  that  the  Saviour  should  be 
more  than  a  creature — perhaps  of  an  angelick  nature;  per- 
haps only  human.  He  needed  only  to  give  ijistruction,  and 
to  set  a  good  example,  and  he  did  no  more.  On  the  other 
hand,  say  that  sin  is  an  evil  of  inconceivable  malignity: — 
then  sorrow  for  it,  will  not,  of  itself,  insure  its  pardon; — it 
may  require — it  did  require — an  atonement  of  infinite  eflSca- 
cy.  The  Saviour,  who  made  this  atonement,  and  who  alone 
could  make  it,  must  have  been  a  Being  of  infinite  dignity; 
must  have  been  truly  a  divine  person.  He  gave  instruction 
indeed,  and  set  a  perfest  example:  but  the  chief  object  of  his 
mission  was,  to  make  expiation  for  the  sins  of  the  world. 

Thus  you  perceive,  that  Socinianism  on  the  one  hand,  and 
the  orthodox  faith  on  the  other,  are  alike  traceable  to  the 
views  which  the  parties,  severally,  entertain  of  the  evil 
of  sin.     I  have  made  the  statement  to  show  you,  that  the 


214  LECTURES  ON  THE 

opinions  we  form  on  this  important  point  are  radical — are 
fundamental.  Sin  is  a  moral  disease.  Think  little,  or  light- 
ly of  the  disease,  and  you  will  see  no  need  of  a  powerful 
remedy,  or  an  infinitely  skilful  physician.  But  conceive  the 
disease  to  be  infinitely  malignant,  and  you  will  see  that  its 
remedy  and  its  physician,  must  both  be  divine — that  nothing 
less  can  be  of  any  avail.  We  know  that  our  system  is  re- 
proached with  being  awful,  and  gloomy,  and  derogatory  to 
human  nature.  Part  of  this  charge  is  equivocally  true.  We 
do  hold  that  our  nature  is  awfully  degraded  and  debased  by 
sin : — we  do  hold  that  all  who  are  in  their  natural  state,  are 
in  a  state  of  condemnation  and  wrath.  But  we  also  hold, 
that  God,  in  his  infinite  mercy,  has  provided  a  way  of  com- 
plete relief  and  restoration — yea,  a  way  in  which  man  may  be 
restored  to  a  better  state  than  he  lost  by  the  fall.  We  admit 
the  disease,  and  we  magnify  the  remedy — Our  opponents 
deny,  or  diminish  the  disease,  and  reject  the  remedy.  We 
believe  that  the  whole  current  of  scripture,  and  the  undenia- 
ble state  and  history  of  the  world,  in  all  ages,  do  incontesta^ 
bly  demonstrate  that  our  race  is  in  a  state  of  sin,  of  extreme 
degradation,  and  wretchedness,  and  ruin.  We  verily  believe 
that  we  need  an  infinite  Saviour,  and  that  such  a  Saviour  is 
provided.  Cherish  this  belief,  my  young  friends.  Let  no- 
thing subvert  or  shake  your  faith,  in  these  fundamental  doc- 
trines of  the  Christian  system.  Never  attempt  in  your  own 
minds,  to  excuse  or  extenuate  your  guilt  as  sinners.  On  the 
contrary,  admit  your  guilt  in  all  its  extent.  Try  to  take  af- 
fecting views  of  it.  Pray  to  God  to  enable  you  to  see  it  clear- 
ly, and  to  feel  it  sensibly — -Why  ?  That  you  may  sink  down 
into  gloom  and  despondency?  No  assuredly,  but  that  you 
may  be  led  to  a  complete  remedy  for  all — That  you  may  be 
led  to  commit  your  souls  truly,  into  the  Saviour's  hands:  that 
being  "  washed,  and  sanctified,  and  justified,  in  the  name  of 
the  Lord  Jesus,  and  by  the  Spirit  of  our  God,"  you  may  be 
restored  to  the  divine  favour ;  that  all  your  sins  may  be  can- 
celled— all  your  guilt  be  washed  away — That  you  may  pos- 
sess a  present  "  peace,  that  passeth  all  understanding," — "  a 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  215 

joy  that  is  exceeding  great  and  full  of  glory," — the  foretaste 
of  the  joys  of  heaven;  where  all  the  effects  of  sin  shall  for 
ever  cease,  and  unceasing  praise  be  rendered,  "  to  Him  that 
loved  us  and  washed  us  from  our  sins  in  his  own  blood,  and 
hath  made  us  kings  and  priests  to  God  and  his  Father — to 
him  be  glory,  and  dominion  for  ever  and  ever — Amen." 


Bishop  Home's  third  discourse,  in  the  fourth  edition  of 
his  sermons,  is  entitled,  "The  tree  of  life,"  and  is  grounded 
on  the  text  Gen.  ii.  part  of  verse  9;  "The  tree  of  life  also,  in 
the  midst  of  the  garden."  The  whole  discourse  is  calculated 
to  illustrate  and  confirm  what  is  stated  in  the  lecture.  The 
following  extract  only  was  read,  when  the  lecture  was  deli- 
vered : 

"  The  sacramental  designation  of  the  Tree  of  Life  in  Paradise  may  be  far- 
ther evinced,  perhaps,  by  a  passage  or  two  in  the  book  of  St.  John's  Revela- 
tion. *  To  him  that  overcometh,'  says  the  Captain  of  our  salvation,  '  will  I 
give  to  eat  of  the  Tree  of  Life,  which  is  in  the  midst  of  the  Paradise  of  God.'* 
And  again — 'Blessed  are  they  that  do  his  commandments,  that  they  may  have 
right  to  the  Tree  of  Life. 't  By  'eating  of  the  Tree  of  Life  in  the  Paradise  of 
God,'  is  here  evidently  meant  a  participation  of  eternal  life  with  God  in  hea- 
ven. Of  this  eternal  life  the  faithful  followers  of  their  great  leader  are  to  be 
put  in  possession,  as  the  reward  of  their  labours,  when  those  labours  shall  have 
been  accomplished ;  when  they  shall  have  walked  to  the  end  of  their  journey 
in  the  path  of  Christ's  commandments,  and  shall  have  finally  overcome  their 
spiritual  enemies.  May  we  not,  therefore,  by  parity  of  reason,  infer  from 
hence  the  signification  and  intent  of  the  Tree  of  Life  in  Eden?  By  means  of 
that  sacrament,  had  Adam  gone  happily  through  his  probation,  and  persevered 
in  obedience  unto  the  end,  he  would  have  been  admitted,  in  the  kingdom  of 
heaven,  to  that  state  of  eternal  life  with  God,  for  which  he  was  always  de- 
signed, and  of  which  Paradise  was  the  earthly  resemblance.  He  would  have 
been  removed  from  the  shadows  of  this  world  to  the  realities  of  a  better.  His 
removal  must  have  differed,  in  the  manner  of  it,  from  that  of  which  we  now 
live,  or  ought  to  live,  in  expectation.  Without  sin,  death  could  have  had  no 
power  over  him.  He  would  have  been  translated  alive,  as  Enoch  and  Elijah, 
for  particular  purposes,  afterwards  were.  The  change  would  have  been 
wrought  in  him  at  once,  as  it  was  in  them,  and  as  it  will  be  in  those,  who 
shall  be  found  alive,  at  the  coming  of  our  Lord  to  judgment. 

,  ^  Rev.  ii.  7.  t  Rev.  xxii.  14. 


216  LECTURES  ON  THE 

"When  transgression  had  subjected  Adam  to  a  sentence  of  condemnation, 
the  case  was  altered.  Glory  and  immortality  could  no  longer  be  obtained 
upon  the  terms  of  the  first  covenant,  now  broken  and  void.  The  very  attempt 
became  criminal.  Man  was  to  be  put  under  a  new  covenant,  and  in  a  nevi? 
course  of  trial.  He  was  to  suffer  in  the  flesh  for  sin,  and  to  pay  the  penalty  of 
death.  But,  through  the  merits  of  a  surety,  that  death  was  to  be  made  the 
gate  of  immortality.  By  faith  he  was  to  acquire,  upon  the  mediatorial  plan, 
a  fresh  right  or  power  to  eat  of  the  Tree  of  Life,  and  live  for  ever,  after  the 
resurrection  from  the  dead,  with  his  propitiated  and  reconciled  Maker.  In 
mercy,  therefore,  he  was  excluded  from  the  garden  of  Eden,  and  from  the  ori- 
ginal symbol  of  that  eternal  life,  whicJi  was  now  to  be  sought  after  by  other 
means,  and  represented  by  other  sacraments.  He  was  sent  forth  into  the 
world  to  pass  his  time  in  toil,  pain,  and  sorrow ;  in  mourning,  contrition,  and 
penance:  till  death  should  set  him  free,  and  introduce  him  to  the  joys  pur- 
chased and  prepared  for  him  by  that  blessed  person,  "  in  whom  is  Life,  and 
the  Life  was  the  light  of  men."*  The  same  divine  person  was  always  the 
source  of  immortality,  however  the  sacred  symbols,  instituted  to  adumbrate  it, 
have  been  varied  under  different  dispensations.  To  our  first  parents,  before 
the  fall,  he  stood  in  the  relation  of  Creator  and  Lord.  To  them,  and  to  their 
posterity,  since  that  sad  catastrophe,  he  hath  stood,  and  ever  continued  to 
stand,  in  the  new  relation  of  Saviour  and  Redeemer.  The  man  who  doth  not 
now  acknowledge  him  in  this  latter  character,  will  find  him,  in  the  former,  an 
avenger  to  execute  wrath :  and  what  wrath  can  be  so  fierce  and  terrible,  as 
that  of  the  Lamb?  It  is  oil  set  on  fire.  The  sinner  unless  he  be  in  love  with 
condemnation,  must  not  revert  to  the  first  covenant,  and  aim  at  the  acquisi- 
tion of  eternal  life,  on  the  foot  of  the  law  of  works,  or  the  performance  of  un- 
sinning  obedience.  In  this  case  the  rebel  claims  promotion,  instead  of  suing 
for  pardon.  He  puts  forth  his  hand  to  the  fruit  of  the  now  forbidden  tree, 
which  is  no  longer  food  for  man.  Its  nature  is  changed,  with  our  condition. 
To  the  eye  of  human  pride  it  still  looks  fair  and  tempting ;  but  its  contents, 
when  eaten,  are  ashes  and  sulphur;  and  immortality,  without  redemption, 
would  prove  the  reverse  of  a  blessing." 


*  John  i.  4- 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  217 


LECTURE  XV. 

Did  our  first  Parents  continue  in  the  state  ivjierein  they  ivere 

created? 

We  are  now  to  consider  the  following  answer  of  our  cate- 
chism— 

*^Our  first  parents,  being  left  to  the  freedom  of  their  own 
will,  fell  from  the  estate  wherein  they  were  created,  by  sin- 
ning against  God." 

In  discussing  two  or  three  of  the  previous  answers,  we  have 
had  occasion  to  say  so  much  on  the  nature  of  that  estate  in 
which  man  was  originally  created,  that  it  will  not  be  neces- 
sary to  add  much  to  it  here.  It  was  an  estate  of  perfect  inno- 
cence, in  which  he  had  his  standing  under  God,  as  his  Lord 
and  Creator;  it  was  an  estate  in  which  he  was  perfectly  con- 
formed, in  his  measure,  to  the  image  of  God  ;  had  intimate 
fellowship  and  communion  with  him;  and  an  ample  domi- 
nion over  all  the  work  of  his  hands  in  this  lower  world — the 
tree  of  knowledge  of  good  and  evil  alone  excepted  :  It  was  an 
estate  too,  in  which  he  was  bound  to  obedience  by  solemn 
covenant  engagements,  enforced,  as  was  shown  in  the  last  lec- 
ture, by  the  awful  sanctions  of  life  and  death,  in  all  the  va- 
rious and  extensive  import  of  those  terms;  and  in  which  he 
knew  that  his  posterity,  as  well  as  himself,  was  to  share.  It 
was  in  fine,  an  estate  which  he  had  full  power  given  him  to/ 
maintain;  since  he  could  not  lose  it  without  the  voluntary? 
choice  of  evil ;  and  since  his  will,  though  capable  of  choosing 
evil,  was  not  only  not  inclined  to  it,  but  sweetly  and  perfect- 
ly disposed  to  the  choice  of  good.  Such  being  his  estate,  he 
was  left  to  the  freedom  of  his  own  will;  and  he  fell  by  sin- 
ning against  God. 

How  a  being,  formed  and  constituted  as  man  was,  should 
fall  into  sin, — how  sin  should  ever  come  to  be  the  choice  of  a 
perfectly  free  and  holy  soul, — is  a  problem  on  which  the 

2e 


218  LECTURES  ON  THE 

Strongest  minds  have  often  tried  their  strength;  and  hitherto, 
so  far  as  I  know,  they  have  tried  it  in  vain.  The  origin  of 
moral  evil  is,  in  every  view  that  we  can  take  of  the  subject, 
an  inexplicable  mystery.  It  is  one  of  the  arcana  of  the  mo- 
ral world.  While  no  one  can  doubt  or  deny  the  fact,  that  it 
does  exist, — for  I  do  not  believe  that  even  professed  atheists 
doubt  it,^yet  to  account  for  its  existence,  or  to  explain  the 
process,  or  manner,  in  which  it  came  into  existence,  is  not,  I 
suspect,  within  the  reach  of  the  human  faculties  in  the  pre- 
sent life. 

Will  any  one  undertake  to  affirm  that  the  Deity  could  not 
have  preserved  all  his  moral  offspring  from  sin? — We  have  no 
right  to  say  that  he  could  not.  We  are  by  no  means  sure 
that  man  might  not  have  been  made  and  preserved  in  a  state 
of  as  perfect  freedom  as  he  actually  possessed,  and  yet  have 
been  kept  from  sin.  And  for  myself,  I  would  not  dare  to  say 
that  infinite  wisdom,  power  and  goodness,  could  not  have 
formed  «  system,  into  which  as  much  happiness  should  have 
entered  as  will  ever  be  found  in  our  system,  and  yet  that  no 
moral  evil  should  have  entered  with  it — I  cannot  tell  what  in- 
finite wisdom,  power  and  goodness,  could  perform.  Thus 
does  this  subject  transcend  our  powers,  as  it  relates  to  the 
Creator. 

It  is  also  unsearchable,  I  think,  even  as  it  relates  to  the 
creature.  How  man,  being  perfectly  holy,  should  fall  in  love 
with  sin, — how  the  first  sinful  exercise  or  emotion,  should 
gain  admission  to  his  heart — is  a  difficulty  which  at  present 
we  are  unable  to  explain.  If  we  suppose  that  we  find  some 
assistance  in  an  explanation,  from  the  circumstance  that  man 
was  powerfully  and  most  insidiously  tempted — as  he  certain- 
ly was — still  the  question  returns,  how  did  his  tempter  be- 
come a  sinner? — how  did  the  angels,  who  kept  not  their  first 
state,  fall  into  transgression?  Sin  did  not  first  take  place  on 
earth.  It  began  in  heaven,  among  an  order  of  beings  of  much 
higher  rank  and  nobler  powers  than  those  which  we  possess. 
How  did  rebellion  against  God  first  find  its  way  into  their 
powerful,  and  pure,  and  holy  minds? — And  here,  too,  at  least 


li 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  219 

in  regard  to  the  first  that  fell,  there  was  no  tempter.  What 
shall  we  say  to  these  things?  In  reference  to  our  Maker,  we 
should  say — "  0  the  depth  of  the  riches,  both  of  the  wisdom 
and  knowledge  of  God  !  how  unsearchable  are  his  judgments, 
and  his  ways  past  finding  out."  Yes,  the  judgments  and  the 
ways  of  God  are  past  finding  out. 

And  yet,  my  young  friends,  let  it  be  remembered  after  all, 
that  we  know  perfectly,  all  that  we  need  to  know  on  this  very 
subject:  yea,  let  it  be  remembered,  that  a  murmuring  desire 
to  know  more  than  God  has  made  known  on  this  subject,  par- 
takes of  the  nature  of  that  very  sin  b}^  which  our  first  parents 
fell — the  sin  of  wishing  to  be  as  Gods  in  our  knowledge. 
We  know  assuredly  that  our  Creator  is  perfectly  holy,  and 
perfectly  opposed  to  all  sin;  that  he  is  not  and  cannot  be  the 
author  of  it;  that  though  he  left  man  to  sin,  he  did  not  incline 
him  to  it;  and  that  on  this  very  fall  of  man,  is  founded  the 
whole  work  of  redemption  by  Christ;  which  will  exhibit  the 
divine  glory,  and  raise  the  redeemed  of  the  Lord  to  the 
greatest  heights  of  heavenly  bliss,  throughout  eternity. 

In  regard  to  man,  we  know  that  although  he  was  created 
perfect,  yet  he  was  also  created  mutable;  that  being  muta- 
ble, he  was  capable  of  falling;  that  though  we  cannot  ex- 
plain the  manner  in  which  sin  was  conceived  in  his  heart,  yet 
that  under  the  temptation  of  the  devil,  there  it  was  conceived  ; 
that  he  did  sin,  and  that  freely;  and  that  sinning  he  fell,  and 
"brought  death  into  the  world  and  all  our  wo;"  and  that  this 
whole  transaction  did  actually  take  place,  in  such  manner 
as  to  leave  the  whole  guilt  of  the  fall  resting  on  man,  and  on 
his  vile  seducer.  These  are  facts,  clearly  ascertained  to  us  in 
scripture ;  and  they  are  all  that  it  is  of  any  practical  use  for 
us  to  know.  If  we  could  clearly  understand  all  that  is  actual- 
ly beyond  our  depth  in  this  subject,  what  would  be  the  conse- 
quence ?  It  would  make  no  alteration  at  all,  in  any  one  point 
of  duty.  It  would  then  be  our  duty  to  act  exactly  as  we  are 
now  called  to  act.  Our  knowledge  might  gratifj^  curiosity, 
but  it  would  not  direct  our  practice.  And  it  seems  to  be  the 
character  of  the  divine  dispensations,  and  of  the  state  of  our 


220  LECTURES  ON  THE 

knowledge  at  present — not  only  in  regard  to  religion,  but  to 
every  thing  else—that  we  should  be  acquainted  with  facts, 
and  with  the  use  that  we  are  to  make  of  them;  but  that  we 
should  be  able  to  proceed  but  a  very  little  way,  in  any  of  our 
theories  for  their  explanation.  To  be  humbly  submissive  to 
this  order,  and  content  with  it,  is  an  act  of  pious  resignation 
wherever  it  is  found  ;  and  those  who  act  otherwise  incur  both 
guilt  and  torment,  and  after  all  make  no  advances  whatever 
in  knowledge.  Hear  the  declaration  of  the  wisest  of  men, 
speaking  too  under  the  guidance  of  inspiration,  on  this  very 
point — which,  if  it  had  been  duly  regarded,  might,  one  would 
think,  have  prevented  many  a  long  and  painful  inquiry. 
Solomon  says,  "  Lo,  this  only  have  I  found,  that  God  made 
man  upright,  but  they  have  sought  out  many  inventions." — 
That  is,  the  result  of  all  my  inquiries  and  investigations,  and 
the  amount  of  all  that  is  revealed,  and  that  can  be  known  on 
this  deep  speculation,  is  simply  this.  That  God  made  man 
holy,  and  that  he  and  his  posterity  have  made  themselves  sin- 
ners.    This  then  is  the  result  of  all,  and  here  we  rest. 

Among  other  things,  in  regard  to  which  the  busy  minds  of 
men  have  employed  themselves  to  little  purpose,  is  the  in- 
quiry, what  was  the  length  of  time  that  our  first  parents  spent 
in  the  state  of  innocence,  or  before  the  fall?  Some  have  con- 
cluded that  the  space  was  very  small,  and  some  that  it  was 
very  considerable.  If  I  were  to  form  a  conjecture,  it  would 
be,  that  it  was  neither  the  one  nor  the  other.  Supposing  the 
truth  of  what  has  heretofore  been  suggested,  that  the  angels 
were  created  on  the  first  of  the  six  days  during  which  our 
earth  was  formed  and  furnished,  it  seems  reasonable  to  sup- 
pose that  there  was  some  moderate  period  of  time  necessary 
for  their  probation,  fall  and  punishment,  and  their  efforts  for 
the  seduction  of  Adam  and  Eve.  Yet  no  great  space  certain- 
ly was  necessary  for  the  whole.  But  what  was  the  state  of 
the  fact  we  are  not  told,  and  therefore  can  never  certainly 
know.  ' 

Another  point  which  must  be  briefly  noticed,  in  consider- 
ing the  fall  of  our  first  parents,  is  the  character  of  the  tempter. 


SHORTER    CATECHISM.  221 

The  account  given  us  by  Moses  of  the  primitive  apostacy,  as 
we  have  already  shown,  is  not  to  be  considered  as  an  alleo;ory, 
but  as  historical  truth.  Viewed  in  this  manner,  it  appears 
that  Satan,  or  the  chief  of  the  fallen  angels,  made  use  of  the 
serpent  for  the  seduction  of  our  first  mother. 

A  late  commentator,  Dr.  Adam  Clarke,  has  endeavoured,  in 
an  elaborate  note  of  his  commentary,  to  prove  that  a  serpent 
was  not  the  animal  whose  organs  were  used  by  the  adversa- 
ry, to  hold  his  conversation  with, Eve. — That  this  animal  was^ 
on  the  contrary,  a  species  of  the  ape,  most  probably  the 
ourang  outang.  He  supposes  that  he  has  assigned  satisfactory 
reasons  to  prove  the  truth  of  his  opinion.  But  I  confess  it  ap- 
pears otherwise  to  me,  after  reading  and  considering  his  state- 
ment, as  carefully  as  I  can.  He  admits — what  indeed  could 
not  be  denied — that  the  Greek  translators  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, who  lived  some  centuries  before  Christ,  have  translated 
the  Hebrew  word  tynJ  (nehesh),  which  in  that  language  is  the 
name  of  the  tempting  animal,  by  0^/5  (ophis),  the  Greek  word 
for  serpent.  To  me  it  seems  unspeakably  more  probable  that 
these  translators  should  have  known  what  was  the  animal 
really  understood  by  the  Hebrew  word,  than  that  the  disco- 
very should  be  made  two  thousand  years  afterwards,  and  this 
too,  as  the  commentator  admits,  only  by  an  analogy,  or  simi- 
larity between  the  Hebrew  word  and  an  Arabick  term, 
which,  in  its  root,  signifies  both  devil  and  ape.  But  be  this 
as  it  may,,  there  are  very  frequent  allusions  to  the  tempter  in 
the  New  Testament.  He  is  there  called  not  only  the  serpent, 
and  the  old  serpent, — but  the  dragon,  and  the  old  dragon, 
— retaining  the  genus  and  describing  a  species.  And  althougji 
I  admit  with  the  commentator,  both  that  the  New  Testament 
writers  usually  quoted  from  the  Septuagint,  and  that  the 
point,  as  a  matter  of  faith,  is  not  highly  important,  yet  I  can- 
not admit  that  the  inspired  writers  of  the  New  Testament 
would  ever  have  given  their  sanction  to  a  palpable  error,  or  a 
gross  falsehood;  and  by  so  doing,  have  not  only  retained  but 
propagated  it  widely.  Beside,  though  the  commentator  ex- 
plains some  difficult  points  very  ingeniously  by  his  new  trans- 


222  LECTURES  ON  THE 

lation,  he  makes  one  difficulty,  as  great  as  any  he  removes.  It 
was  a  part  of  the  curse  pronounced  on  the  ETIJ  {nehesh),  *^  on  thy 
belly  shalt  thou  go."  Now  this  is  not  verified  in  any  of  the 
ape  species;  and  it  is  by  na  means  satisfied  by  saying,  as  the 
commentator  does,  "thou  shalt  no  longer  walk  erect,  but 
mark  the  ground  equally  with  thy  hands  and  feet."  This 
animal  it  is  expressly  said,  '*  was  cursed  above  all  cattle,  and 
above  every  beast  of  the  field."  But  to  mark  the  ground 
with  their  feet,  both  before  and  behind,  is  the  property  of  all 
cattle,  of  every  beast  of  the  field — of  every  quadruped  that 
walks  the  earth.  The  serpent,  on  the  contrary,  is  really  de- 
graded below  them,  by  dragging  his  whole  length  through  the 
dust;  and  this  seems  to  be  the  discriminating  part  of  the  ma- 
lediction. On  the  whole,  the  supposition  of  Milton  in  this 
particular,  as  in  most  others  where  inspiration  leaves  any  thing 
to  be  supplied,  seems  to  me  the  most  plausible.  It  appears 
probable  that  the  serpent,  before  the  fall,  was  a  lovely  animal ; 
that  he  moved,  as  Milton  represents,  on  a  spiral  base;  that  he 
was  of  course  principally  erect ;  that  he  was  known  for  his 
subtlety  or  wisdom;  and  that  on  this  account  the  surprise  of 
Eve  was  the  less,  at  finding  him  capable  of  speech.  His 
curse  consisted  in  degrading  him,  in  all  his  qualities,  to  what 
he  now  is. 

But  it  is  infinitely  more  important  to  consider  the  wiles  of 
the  adversary  who  lay  concealed  under  the  serpent,  than  to 
determine  what  was  the  original  form  of  that  animal.  The 
account  given  of  the  temptation  of  our  first  mother,  like 
every  other  part  of  the  narrative,  is  very  short  and  compre- 
hensive. Yet  comprehensive  as  it  is,  enough  is  said  to  show 
that  the  subtlety  of  the  great  deceiver  was  all  exerted  on  the 
occasion.  Nothing  can  be  imagined  more  artful  and  insidi- 
ous than  his  temptation.  He  begins  with  an  inquiry  addressed 
to  the  woman,  in  regard  to  the  prohibition  by  the  Creator  of 
the  tree  of  knowledge  of  good  and  evil.  She  answers  it  in 
a  manner  seemingly  calculated  to  justify  the  divine  prohibi- 
tion of  the  interdicted  tree,  and  to  magnify  the  bounty  of 
God  in  granting  liberty  to  eat  of  all  beside.     The  adversary 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  223 

Ihen  proceedss  to  question  and  deny  the  penalty  of  death,  and 
in  such  manner  as  to  intimate  that  possibly  Eve  had  mis- 
taken it;  and  yet  carrying  clearly  the  charge  both  of  cruel- 
ty and  falsehood,  against  the  great  Creator.  Eve  listens,  de- 
liberates, and  is  lost.  She  appears  to  have  hesitated  for  some 
time;  to  have  viewed  the  tree  attentively,  to  have  strength- 
ened her  desire  of  eating  by  the  view,  and  thus  to  have  gain- 
ed resolution  to  perpetrate  the  fatal  act. 

Ah!  my  young  friends,  remember  while  you  live,  this 
tampering  with  temptation  by  our  first  mother;  and  as,  at 
this  hour,  you  feel  its  consequences,  follow  not  the  fatal  ex- 
ample. Remember  it  as  a  warning;  and  especially  in  youth, 
while  the  passions  are  ardent  and  the  fancy  is  active.  It  was 
written  for  our  learning.  Remember  that  if  you  begin  to 
parley  with  temptation,  you  are  undone.  Repel  the  tempter 
without  listening  to  him.  If  he  can  gain  your  fancy  and  your 
passions,  he  will  certainly  succeed.  Obsta  j)Tinci2nis. — Dash 
from  you,  with  abhorrence,  the  poisoned  cup,  the  moment  it 
is  presented.  Never  listen  to  temptation — Never  make  it  a 
question  whether  you  will  comply  or  not.  Never  suffer  it  to 
become  the  subject  of  meditation — ^There  it  first  pollutes  the 
soul.  Look  upon  it,  and  think  of  it,  and  you  will  comply. 
Remember  too  that  all  seducers  and  tempters  to  sin,  are  act- 
ing the  part  of  Satan.  If  you  listen  to  them  you  are  lost. 
Hear  them  not;  repel  them  with  abhorrence,  scorn  and  indig- 
nation. Jlvoid  temptation,  likewise,  as  far  as  possible. 
«^  Enter  not  into  the  path  of  the  wicked,  and  go  not  in  the 
way  of  evil  men.  Avoid  it,  pass  not  by  it,  turn  from  it,  and 
pass  away." 

The  woman  having  fallen,  became  the  tempter  of  the  man.— 
"  She  gave  also  unto  her  husband  with  her  and  he  did  eat." 
We  are  not  told  by  what  particular  temptations  or  allurements 
Adam  was  induced  to  comply.  Nothing  was  ever  more 
beautifully  imagined  than  what  Milton  has  said,  on  the  man- 
ner in  which  Adam  was  prevailed  on  to  share  the  ruin  of  his 
fallen  wife.  Still,  it  may  be  nothing  more  than  imagination. 
What  was  the  fact  we  are  not  told,  and  therefore  can  never 


224  LECTURES   ON  THE 

know.  The  Apostle  Paul,  in  enjoining  a  due  subjection  of 
the  woman  to  the  man,  tells  us^that  "  Adam  was  not  de- 
ceived, but  the  woman  being  deceived,  was  in  the  transgres- 
sion." But  it  clearly  appears,  by  the  context  of  that  passage, 
that  the  apostle's  assertion  is  to  be  confined  to  the  first  de- 
ception— He  was  not  first  deceived — How  much  deception 
was  actually  practised  in  his  fall,  we  do  not  know.  Proba- 
bly there  was  less  of  it  in  the  whole  process,  than  in  the  case 
of  Eve;  and  of  course  that  his  guilt  was,  on  this  account, 
greater  than  hers.  On  another  account  it  was  certainly 
greater.  ~  He  was  the  proper  head  and  representative  of  the 
human  race.  Had  he  retained  his  integrity,  notwithstanding 
the  fall  of  Eve,  both  he  and  his  posterity  would  have  been 
safe.  j;She  would  doubtless  have  received  the  due  reward  of 
her  guilt,  and  another  help-mete  would  have  been  provided 
for  him.  But  he  yielded  to  the  considerations,  whatever 
they  were,  which  assaulted  his  innocence  and  integrity.  He 
ate  of  the  forbidden  fruit.  He  mingled  his  guilt  and  his  des- 
tiny with  those  of  his  wife.  The  united  head  of  the  human 
family  thus  became  sinful  and  corrupt;  and  the  contamination 
will  reach  the  remotest  of  their  offspring. 

It  belongs  to  a  subsequent  answer  in  the  catechism,  to 
show  the  accumulated  guilt  which  was  involved  in  this  trans- 
gression, and  the  effects  which  it  produced  on  our  first  pa- 
rents. In  the  mean  time,  the  present  lecture  will  be  con- 
cluded with  a  few  inferences,  of  a  practical  kind,  from  what 
you  have  heard. 

1.  From  what  has  been  said  in  this  lecture,  you  may  plain- 
ly see  that  a  single  act  of  sin  may  draw  after  it  an  endless 
train  of  fatal  consequences.  It  is  true  indeed,  that  the  sinful 
acts  of  no  individual  of  mankind  since  the  fall,  ever  was,  or 
ever  will  be,  so  extensively  connected  with  injury  to  others, 
as  was  the  eating  of  the  forbidden  fruit  by  our  first  parents. 
ITet  in  very  numerous  instances  still,  the  effects  of  one  viola- 
tion of  the  moral  law  of  G-od  may  fee  seen,  in  a  train  of  evils 
aild  sufferings  of  the  most  mournful  kind-^not  to  be  avoided 
in   this   life,  and   often   extending  into   the  eternal   world. 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  225 

Think,  for  an  illustration  of  this,  of  the  single  acts  of  unbri- 
dled anger — producing  murder,  maiming,  duelling,  and  per- 
sonal injuries  innumerable;  and  of  cupidity — as  witnessed  in 
theft,  forgery,  perjury,  lying,  fraud,  and  falsehood  in  a  thou- 
sand forms.  Think  in  how  many  instances  one  act  of  libidi- 
nous indulgence  has  blasted  for  ever  the  hopes  of  female  youth 
and  beauty;  brought  dishonour  on  a  whole  family,  and  broken 
a  father's  and  a  mother's  heart.  Think  of  the  single  acts  of 
traitors  and  tyrants,  by  which  thousands  have  lost  their  lives 
and  liberties,  and  whole  nations  have  been  desolated  and 
clothed  in  mourning.  Think  of  these  things,  and  observe  from 
them  that  the  first  constitution  of  God  is  still  in  a  measure 
continued;  learn  how  extensively  our  destinies  are  still  con- 
nected one  with  another;  and  how  great  is  our  responsibility 
both  to  God  and  man,  to  avoid  the  cause  and  origin  of  such 
extended  evils.  You  cannot,  my  dear  youth,  be  too  watchful 
against  temptation  or  excitement  to  those  acts  of  transgres- 
sion, of  which  a  single  one  may  indelibly  stain  your  character, 
and  blast  your  prospects,  and  diminish  your  influence  and  use- 
fulness, for  the  whole  of  life;  may  bring  misery  and  disgrace 
on  others,  and  put  at  fearful  hazard  the  eternal  destinies  both 
of  them  and  of  yourselves.  But  remember  too,  that  your  own 
unaided  vigilance  will  not  be  sufficient  to  protect  you.  They 
only  are  well  kept  whom  God  keeps.  Unless  you  are  guard- 
ed by  his  providence  and  grace,  you  will  certainly  fall,  not- 
withstanding all  your  purposes  of  care  and  watchfulness.  By 
daily  prayer  therefore,  seek  the  grace  and  protection  of  God, 
which  alone  can  effectually  preserve  you;  and  which,  if  you 
obtain  them,  you  will  certainly  be  safe. 

2.  In  view  of  the  subtlety  and  power  of  the  great  adversa- 
ry of  souls,  how  consoling  is  it  to  the  true  believer,  to  think 
that  he  is  in  covenant  with  that  Saviour  who  has  vanquished 
Satan  ;  who  came  to  destroy  the  work  of  the  devil ;  and  who 
will  keep  all  his  faithful  people  from  being  tempted  above 
what  they  are  able  to  bear? 

When  we  reflect  that  such  was  the  skill,  artifice  and  influ- 
ence, of  the  malignant  spirit  that  seduced  our  first  parents, 

2  F 


226  LECTURES  ON  THE 

that  he  prevailed  against  them,  when  they  had  no  corrupt 
nature,  no  sinful  propensities,  to  which  he  might  address  his 
temptations;  and  that  we  have  a  nature  and  propensities 
which  are  the  allies,  as  it  were,  of  all  his  vile  suggestions*, — 
when  we  consider  too,  tliat  he  has  increased  his  subtlety  by 
the  experience  of  six  thousand  years,  and  that  the  best  saint 
on  earth  is  sanctified  but  in  part — we  may  see,  that  not  one  of 
our  fallen  race  has  any  security  against  being  for  ever  undone, 
but  from  being  a  member  of  the  mystical  body  of  Christ,  Yes, 
here  is  our  only  safety.  If  sinless,  perfect  man,  standing  in 
his  own  strength,  fell  before  the  sagacity  and  snares  of  Satan, 
he  would  be  sure  to  make  a  prey  of  every  sinful  and  imper- 
fect man,  if  that  man  were  left  to  himself.  But  the  people  of 
God  are  never  Jinalii/  left  to  themselves;  they  are  not  expected 
to  stand  in  their  own  strength  :  and  to  make  them  attempt  it,  is 
one  of  the  wiles  of  their  great  adversary,  by  which,  more  per- 
haps than  by  any  other,  he  does  them  a  temporary  injury. 
They  however  are  the  blood-bought  property  of  their  Re- 
deemer— and  none  on  earth  or  in  hell  is  able  to  pluck  them 
out  of  his  and  his  Father's  hand.  Made  one  with  their  Al- 
mighty Saviour,  his  honour  is  concerned  to  preserve  them 
unto  his  heavenly  kingdom.  He  has  conquered  and  triumph- 
ed over  the  great  enemy  of  their  souls,  who  cannot  tempt 
them  farther  than  he  is  permitted  by  Christ,  their  spiritual 
head — by  him  who  has  promised  that  his  grace  shall  be  suffi- 
cient for  them,  and  that  in  every  temptation  he  will  make  a 
way  for  their  escape,  that  they  may  be  able  to  bear  it.  Here 
is  their  security — While  therefore  they  are  exhorted  to  be 
sober  and  vigilant,  knowing  that  their  "adversary  the  devil, 
as  a  roaring  lion  goeth  about  seeking  whom  he  may  devour," 
and  are  enjoined  to  resist  him  steadfastly,  they  have  the  com- 
fort to  know  that  in  so  doing,  they  will  at  last  come  off  con- 
querors and  more  than  conquerors.  Their  adversary  may, 
for  wise  purposes,  be  permitted  for  a  time,  and  to  a  certain 
extent,  to  vex  and  worry  them,  but  he  can  never  lastingly  in- 
jure or  destroy  them.  They  are  "  kept  by  almighty  power 
through  faith  unto  salvation ;"  and  the  period  will  shortly  ar- 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  227 

rive,  when  they  will  escape  for  ever  beyond  all  the  assaults 
of  Satan,  temptation  and  sin;  and  when  all  their  present  trials 
and  conflicts,  will  but  serve  to  increase  the  eternal  weight 
of  glory,  in  which  they  shall  share  with  their  reigning  and  tri- 
umphant Lord. 

Be  persuaded,  my  dear  youth,  to  seek  with  unceasing  dili- 
gence a  vital  union  with  this  precious  and  all-sufficient  Sa- 
viour. Without  this,  all  your  purposes  and  plans  of  avoiding 
even  the  worst  of  crimes,  may  prove  abortive ;  or  if  by  the 
good  providence  and  restraining  grace  of  God,  you  shall  be 
preserved  from  scandalous  and  enormous  sins,  yet  unless  a 
living  faith  unite  you  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  you  will  as- 
suredly lose  your  souls  at  last,  and  be  for  ever  the  companions 
of  the  devil  and  his  angels.  Be  very  sensible  of  this;  let  it 
dwell  constantly  on  your  minds ;  let  it  preserve  you  from 
satisfying  yourselves  with  an  amiable  exterior,  or  with  any 
mere  formal  attention  to  religion.  Be  not  satisfied  till  you 
"  know  in  whom  you  have  believed,  and  that  he  is  able  to 
keep  that  which  you  have  committed  to  him,  against  that 
day." — Amen. 


LECTURE  XVI. 

What  is  sin? 

What  was  the  sin  whereby  our  first  Parents  fell  from  the  state 
wherein  they  were  created? 

The  first  subject  of  attention  at  this  time,  is  the  following 
very  important  answer  in  our  catechism — namely,  "  Sin  is 
any  want  of  conformity  unto,  or  transgression  of,  the  law  of 
God.'^ 

That  we  may  understand  correctly  the  nature  of  sin,  as  it  is 
here  defined,  it  will  be  of  use  to  consider  briefly,  the  nature 
of  that  law  of  which  all  sin  is  a  violation.  The  law  which 
sin  violates  is  the  law  of  God.     "  Whosoever  committeth  sin 


228  LECTURES  ON  THE 

— says  the  apostle  John — transgresseth  also  the  law;  for  sin 
is  a  transgression  of  the  law."  In  defining  a  law  generally, 
Hooker  says — "  That  which  doth  assign  unto  each  thing  the 
kind,  that  which  doth  moderate  the  force  and  power,  that 
which  doth  appoint  the  form  and  measure  of  working,  the 
same  we  term  a  law.'^  More  shortly  and  popularly,  and  with 
reference  to  moral  agents,  a  law  may  be  defined — a  prescribed 
and  obligatory  rule  of  action. 

The  laws  of  God,  for  the  government  of  men,  have  some  of 
them  been  temporary  and  local,  and  some  of  perpetual  and 
universal  obligation.  The  ceremonial  and  judicial  laws  of 
the  Jews  were,  during  the  continuance  of  the  Mosaick  econo- 
my, perfectly  obligatory  on  that  people — as  much  so  as  the 
precepts  of  the  decalogue.  But  they  were  local  and  tempo- 
rary. They  never  were  binding  on  any  other  people  beside 
the  Jews;  and  not  binding  on  them  after  the  advent  of  the 
Messiah.  They  were  given  for  a  particular  purpose — That 
pu-rpose  has  been  accomplished,  and  the  Deity,  the  legislator 
who  enacted,  has  repealed  them,  and  they  are  no  longer  laws. 

But  there  are  other  laws  of  God,  which  are  of  perpetual  and 
universal  obligation — These  are  called  moral  laws.  But  here, 
again,  there  is  a  distinction  which  deserves  to  be  noticed. 
Some  of  these  laws  are  technically  denominated  moral  na- 
tural, and  others  moral  positive.  Laws  naturally  m.oral, 
are  those  which  seem  to  derive  their  obligation  from  the  very 
nature  of  things;  insomuch  that  you  cannot  conceive  that 
they  should  not  be  obligatory,  while  the  relations  exist  to 
which  they  refer.  Thus  you  cannot  conceive  that  a  rational 
and  moral  being  should  exist,  and  not  be  under  obligation  to 
reverence  his  Creator — You  cannot  conceive  that  it  should  be 
lawful  for  such  a  creature,  to  disregard  and  revile  the  infinite- 
ly great  and  good  Author  of  his  being. 

On  the  other  hand,  \^\\s  positively  m^oral,  derive  their  ob- 
ligation not  from  the  nature  of  things,  but  solely  from  the  ex- 
plicit command  of  God.  Thus  the  intermarriage  of  brothers 
and  sisters,  must  once  have  been  lawful;  and  if  so,  there  is 
no  natural  immorality  in  such  a  connexion.     But  this  con- 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  229 

nexlon  has  been  forbidden  by  God,  from  a  very  early  period 
of  the  world ;  and  is  therefore  now,  a  violation  of  a  law  call- 
ed moral  j)ositive. 

The  moral  law  of  God — or  the  rule  of  moral  action  for  his 
creature  man — was,  no  doubt,  clearly  written  on  man's  heart, 
at  his  first  creation — That  is,  he  was  so  formed  that  he  had  a 
clear  perception  of  his  duty,  and  felt  as  he  ought,  his  ob- 
ligations to  perform  it  perfectly.  After  the  fall,  this  original 
law  of  moral  duty,  was  greatly  defaced  and  obliterated  by  sin. 
Some  faint  traces  of  it,  however,  seem  yet  to  remain,  in  the 
dictates  of  natural  conscience.  But  as  the  restoration  of  man 
was  intended  by  God,  he  was  graciously  pleased  to  reveal 
anew  his  moral  law,  in  all  its  extent,  to  his  fallen  creature. 
This  was  done  most  fully  in  the  ten  commandments,  given  to 
Moses  in  Mount  Sinai,  engraved  by  the  finger  of  God  on  two 
tables  of  stone:  and  this  compend,  usually  called  the  deca- 
logue, although  extremely  short,  is  nevertheless,  when  taken 
in  its  spirituality,  comprehensive  and  complete. 

All  the  laws  of  the  decalogue  are  moral  natural,  unless  it 
be  that  part  of  the  fourth,  which  relates  to  the  portion  of  our 
time  that  is  to  be  exclusively  devoted  to  God.  And  indeed 
in  this,  there  may  be  a  natural  fitness,  with  which  we  are 
not  acquainted. 

Short  as  the  decalogue  is,  we  have  a  summary  of  the  moral 
law,  which  is  still  much  more  compendious,  and  yet  entirely 
complete  and  perfect.  It  is  this — "  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord 
thy  God,  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with 
all  thy  strength,  and  with  all  thy  mind;  and  thy  neighbour 
as  thyself  Our  Saviour  declared  that  "  on  these  two  com- 
mandments hang  all  the  law  and  the  prophets.'^  Here  then 
we  have  the  whole  moral  law,  as  sanctioned  by  the  lawgiver 
Himself,  in  a  single  sentence  :  and  it  is  of  unspeakable  advan- 
tage to  have  it  so  expressed.  It  presents  us  with  a  short  rule 
by  which  to  ascertain  our  duty,  and  by  which  to  discern  and 
determine  what  is  sinful — Sin  is  the  transgression  of  this 
moral  law. 

In  the  original  language  of  the  New  Testament,  the  word 


230  LECTURES  ON  THE 

for  sin,  ^ufMpnet,  {hamartia)  is  derived  from  a  word  whose 
primitive  signification  is,  to  miss  the  mark.  This  suggests 
as  perfect  and  extensive  an  idea  of  sin,  as  perhaps  can  be 
given.  The  moral  law  holds  up  to  us  a  mark,  at  which  we 
are  to  aim,  or  a  rule  or  line,  to  which  we  are  to  conform. 
Every  thing  which  misses  or  falls  short  of  this  mark,  or 
which  deviates  from  this  rule  or  line,  is  sin.  Hence  too,  we 
have  a  clear  illustration  of  the  greatness,  or  aggravation  of 
some  sins,  in  comparison  with  others.  All  short-coming  or 
deviation  is  sin ;  yet  some  defects  come  short,  and  some  ac- 
tions deviate,  unspeakably  more  than  others. 

The  answer  in  the  catechism  divides  sin  into  two  kinds — 
^' Any  want  of  conformity  unto,  or  transgression  of,  the  law 
iof  God ;"  that  is,  sins  of  omission,  and  sins  of  commission. 
Some  writers  on  the  subject  of  moral  criminality  in  our  coun- 
try, have  said  a  good  deal  to  prove  that  all  sin  is  of  a  positive 
nature ;  or  that  it  consists  in  an  actual  transgression  of  the 
divine  law.  But  this  appears  to  me,  little  more  than  a  play 
upon  words.  It  is  indeed  true  that  all  guilt  is  positive,  and 
that  all  conduct  which  is  not  conformed  to  the  law  of  God,  is 
sinful  conduct.  But  we  are  abundantly  taught  in  scripture, 
to  make  a  distinction  between  sins  of  omission  and  sins  of 
commission.  "  These  things  (said  the  Saviour)  ought  ye  to 
have  done,  and  not  to  leave  the  other  undone."  Nay,  if  we 
take  the  scripture  for  our  guide,  as  doubtless  we  ought,  we 
shall  find  much  more  there  said,  against  sins  of  omission, 
than  against  sins  of  commission.  The  reason  of  this  proba- 
bly is,  that  the  guilt  of  actual  transgression,  is  at  once  admit- 
ted and  allowed  by  all ;  while  many  are  disposed  to  think 
very  little  of  sins  of  omission.  It  was  therefore  proper  to 
inculcate  the  guilt  and  the  danger  of  omissions,  that  thev 
might  not  be  overlooked — This  was  the  point,  or  pass,  which 
it  was  peculiarly  necessary  to  guard.  Hence  we  find,  it  is 
the  tree  which  bore  no  fruit,  the  lamp  that  had  no  oil,  the 
unprofitable  servant  that  made  no  use  of  his  talent,  which  are 
held  up  as  beacons,  to  warn  us  of  the  danger  of  omitted  duty. 
In  like  manner,  the  sentence  pronounced  on  the  wicked  in 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  231 

the  final  judgment,  is  made  to  turn  entirely  on  omitted  du-. 
ties — Not  a  single  actual  transgression  is  charged — "I  was  an 
hungered,  and  ye  gave  me  7io  meat;  I  was  thirsty,  and  ye 
gave  me  7io  drink ;  I  was  a  stranger,  and  ye  took  me  not  in; 
naked,  and  ye  clothed  me  not;  sick  and  in  prison,  and  ye 
visited  me  not.''  So  also  the  apostle  to  the  Hebrews — 
^'How  shall  we  escape,  if  we  neglect  so  great  salvation?'^ 
The  great  mass  of  those  who  hear  the  gospel  without  benefit, 
it  is  probable  lay  their  consciences  to  sleep  on  this  pillow  of 
deception,  that  they  have  done  no  harm, — that  they  have 
never  committed  any  flagrant  ofiences;  when,  notwithstand- 
ing, they  are  manifestly  living  in  the  total  and  soul-ruining 
neglect  of  all  the  duties  which  they  owe  to  God.  Truly  we 
have  reason  to  believe,  that  omission  and  neglect  will  destroy 
a  very  large  proportion  of  those  who  perish.  They  will  pe- 
rish because  they  would  not  repent;  would  not  believe  in 
Christ;  would  not  yield  themselves  a  living  sacrifice  to  God. 

It  is  however  to  be  admitted  and  remembered,  that  in  the 
scale  of  comparative  malignity,  sins  of  commission  are  gene- 
rally greater  than  those  of  omission.  To  violate  actively  a 
known  law,  seems,  in  most  instances,  to  require  a  greater 
force  or  hardihood  of  moral  pravity,  than  to  disregard  the 
requisitions  of  a  law.  There  is  also  in  sins  of  commission,  a 
greater  scope  for  aggravation  than  in  sins  of  omission.  Sup- 
pose a  man  to  omit  every  duty  which  he  is  capable  of  per- 
forming, and  although  it  must  be  admitted  that  his  guilt  is 
inexcusably  great,  yet  it  certainly  falls  short  of  his,  who  is  a 
blasphemer,  a  thief  and  a  murderer.  Men  of  great  natural 
powers,  and  of  extensive  authority  or  influence,  do  some- 
times, by  sins  of  commission,  accumulate  guilt  that  seems  to 
resemble  that  of  the  fallen  angels.  In  this  view,  infidel,  ayid 
other  licentious  writers,  conquerors,  tyrants,  and  all  exten- 
sive oppressors  and  corrupters  of  mankind,  will  be  perceived 
to  have  incurred  a  criminality,  which  must  fill  us  with  horror 
in  the  contemplation. 

After  all,  we  are  to  remember,  that  it  is  not  universally 
and  invariably  true,  that  sins  of  commission  are  greater  than 


232  LECTURES    ON  THE 

those  of  omission.  The  omission  of  all  the  duties  which  men 
owe  to  God,  certainly  renders  them  more  guilty  in  his  sight, 
than  they  would  have  been  rendered  by  many  unequitable 
acts  done  to  their  fellow  creatures, — towards  whom,  it  is  per- 
haps their  boast  and  their  deceptive  reliance,  that  they  are 
just  and  benevolent.  And  even  in  regard  to  duties  that  be- 
long entirely  to  the  second  table  of  the  decalogue,  it  is  plainly 
a  greater  sin  to  omit  to  relieve  the  pressing  necessities  of  a 
parent,  than  to  indulge  in  some  recriminating  language,  under 
a  great  provocation. 

But  in  this  connexion,  I  think  it  important  to  warn  you 
distinctly,  my,  young  friends,  against  the  danger — and  it  is 
one  of  no  small  magnitude — of  accustoming  yourselves  to 
excuse  or  extenuate  guilt,  by  comjjciring  one  sin  with  ano- 
ther. This  is  a  common,  and  a  most  pernicious  evil.  Pro- 
bably a  large  proportion  of  mankind,  under  the  light  of  the 
gospel,  are  falsely  speaking  peace  to  themselves,  because  they 
believe  that  they  are  not  so  guilty  as  many  others.  They 
seem  to  forget  that  in  making  this  estimate,  they  are  both 
judge  and  party,  and  therefore  are  not  likely  to  decide  fairly. 
But  suppose  they  did,  what  avails  it  that  others  are  more 
guilty  than  we,  if  both  they  and  we  are  so  guilty  as  to  be  ad- 
judged to  eternal  death.  The  multitude  of  those  who  perish, 
will  not  alleviate,  but  aggravate  the  torment,  of  every  indivi- 
dual who  helps  to  form  that  multitude.  A  mind  truly  en- 
lightened, is  always  disposed  to  think  its  own  sins  greater 
than  those  of  many  others.  The  reason  of  this  may  be  easily 
assigned.  Every  good  man  knows  his  own  sins,  and  the  ag- 
gravations of  them,  better  than  he  can  know  those  of  othersj 
and  therefore  he  is  ready  to  suppose  that  others  have  been 
le§s  vile.  The  apostle  Paul  placed  himself  among  the  chief 
of  sinners;  and  to  this  every  real  penitent  will  be  far  more 
disposed,  than  to  make  any  favourable  comparisons  in  his 
own  behalf. 

On  the  whole,  my  dear  youth,  as  sin  is  the  transgression 
of  the  law,  see  the  importance  of  often  setting  that  law  before 
you,  and  of  comparing  with   it  your  heart  and  your  life 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  233 

Often  say — each  to  himself — "  The  law  of  God  requires  me 
to  love  him  with  all  my  heart,  soul,  strength  and  mind;  and 
to  love  my  neighbour  as  myself.  How  can  1  abide  the  test, 
when  brought  to  this  standard  of  duty?  Have  I  ever  truly 
loved  God  at  all?  If  not,  my  whole  life  has  been  nothing 
but  unmingled  sin.  If  I  have  loved  him  at  all,  yet  alas!  how 
imperfect  has  been  that  love;  how, far  from  loving  him  with 
all  tny  heart — with  all  the  powers  of  my  nature,  and  with- 
out any  interruption?  What  immeasurable  guilt  does  this  in- 
vestigation present  to  my  view!  And  it  is  increased  when  I 
think  that,  so  far  from  loving  my  neighbour  as  myself,  I 
have,  in  addition  to  much  self  preference  of  my  temporal  in- 
terests to  his,  had  but  little  concern,  in  comparison  with  what 
I  ought  to  have  had,  for  his  eternal  happiness, — the  salvation 
of  his  immortal  soul.  What  then,  though  the  world  can 
charge  me  with  no  gross  vices?  What,  though  I  am  even 
commended  as  amiable,  extolled  for  my  virtues,  and  held  up 
as  an  example  to  others? — "God  seeth  not  as  man  seeth,'' 
and  he  sees  and  knows  that,  when  brought  to  the  standard  of 
his  good  and  holy  law,  I  am  a  great  and  inexcusable  sinner. 
It  i5  in  this  way^  my  dear  young  friends,  that  persons  of  the 
most  amiable  natural  tempers,  manners  and  deportment  be- 
fore the  world — qualities  that  we  do  not  undervalue — nay,  it 
is  in  this  way  that  persons  of  real  and  eminent  piety — when, 
under  the  enlightening  influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  they 
view  themselves  in  the  glass  of  God's  strict  and  holy  law — • 
always  see  that  in  themselves  they  are  vile,  polluted  and 
undone  sinners;  that  they  are  justly  condemned;  that  they 
have  no  righteousness  of  their  own,  on  which  they  can  rely; 
but  must  place  their  whole  dependance  for  pardon  and  ac- 
ceptance with  God,  on  the  finished  righteousness  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ. 

There  are  several  other  divisions  of  moral  transgression,  or 
of  sin,  which  I  will  cursorily  mention,  and  make  as  I  pro- 
ceed a  few  brief  remarks.  Sins  are  sometimes  divided  into 
voluntary  and  involuntary .  This  I  hold  to  be  altogether 
an  improper  division — if  the  words  voluntary  and  involun- 

2  G 


234  LECTURES  ON  TH£ 

tary  be  strictly  taken.  No  involuntary  act  can  ever  be  sin- 
ful. It  is  the  choice  of  the  will,  which  alone  renders  any  act 
a  sinful  act.  Habits  of  sin,  in  consequence  of  which  men 
often  sin  without  thinking  of  it,  have  all  been  formed  by  vo- 
luntary acts,  and  are  still  voluntary  habits.  If  the  will  were 
constantly  and  steadily  set  against  them,  they  would  be 
broken  and  changed. 

Again — There  are  sins  oi  inadvertence,  and  sins  o[  delibe- 
ration. Sin  that  is  committed  with  deliberation,  or  with 
time  for  deliberation,  is  always  and  justly  considered  as 
more  heinous  than  that  which  is  committed  by  thoughtless- 
ness, by  the  surprise  of  temptation  suddenly  occurring,  or 
through  the  impulse  of  violently  excited  passion.  The  latter 
however,  is  often  aggravated  in  no  inconsiderable  degree; 
especially  when  previous  transgression  of  a  similar  kind, 
should  have  produced  vigilance,  caution  and  self  command. 
But  deliberate  sin  is  always  in  the  highest  degree  criminal — 
Offences  of  this  character  are  called  in  scripture  ^^presump- 
tuous sins."  They  always  imply  that  conscience  is  either 
violated,  or  for  the  time  inoperative. 

Again — There  may  be  sins  of  comparative  ignorance,  and 
sins  against  light  and  kyiowledge.  "  Ignorance,  total  and 
invincible,  takes  away  all  sin.'^*  We  must  know  a  thing  to 
be  our  duty,  before  we  can  be  under  obligation  to  perform  it. 
Yet  voluntary  ignorance,  when  men  may  have  easy  access  to 
information,  will  not  take  away  guilt.  It  is  conscious  guilt 
and  hatred  of  the  light,  which  often  keeps  men  in  ignorance; 
and  this  is  a  sin  which  our  Saviour  severely  reproves.  But 
the  possession  of  light  and  knowledge,  always  adds,  in  a  high 
degree,  to  the  guilt  of  sin.  "The  servant  which  knew  his 
Lord's  will  and  did  it  not,  shall  be  beaten  with  many  stripes." 
I  shall  only  remark  farther  on  this  topick,  that  some  seem  to 
suppose  that  if  they  refrain  from  sin  in  the  overt  act — that  is, 
in  word  and  deed — they  are  comparatively  innocent.  This 
is  a  great  and  pernicious  error.  Overt  acts  may  be  injurious 
to  others,  in  their  immediate  effects  and  by  their  example. 

*  Witherspoon. 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  235 

But  the  thoughts,  the  heart,  the  will,  the  affections,  the  de- 
sires, are  the  seat  of  all  sin,  in  the  sight  of  God;  and  here  we 
may  be,  and  often  are,  inexpressibly  criminal,  when  no  out- 
ward act  indicates  our  guilt.  He  has  yet  to  learn  what  sin 
is,  who  takes  no  account  of  the  sins  which  can  be  known 
only  to  God  and  to  himself.  It  is  against  inward  heart  sin, 
that  every  good  man  has  his  sorest  struggles,  and  greatest 
and  longest  conflicts. 

The  next  answer  in  our  catechism  has  been  so  much  antici- 
pated, that  it  will  require  but  little  to  be  added,  to  what  you  have 
heard  in  this  and  the  last  lecture ;  it  is  stated  thus; — "  The  sin 
whereby  our  first  parents  fell  from  the  state  wherein  they 
were  created,  was  their  eating  the  forbidden  fruit." 

It  has  already  been  remarked,  that  our  first  parents  sinned 
before  they  ate  the  forbidden  fiuit.  The  action  of  eating 
that  fruit,  flowed  from  a  heart  already  yielded  to  sin  and  in 
rebellion  against  God.  To  ascertain  this  fact  to  the  guilty 
parties,  beyond  the  possibility  of  denial,  might  be  a  part  of 
the  design  in  the  prohibition  of  that  act.  A  sense  of  guilt  and 
shame  however,  does  not  seem  to  have  been  felt,  till  the  out- 
ward and  visible  transgression  had  taken  place — Then  itvvas 
felt  with  an  overwhelming  force.  "Their  bodily  nakedness 
(says  Scott)  had  not  previously  excited  the  sensation  of 
shame :  but  now,  being  stripped  of  the  robe  of  innocence,  and 
despoiled  of  the  image  of  God,  the  defence  of  his  protection, 
and  the  honour  of  his  presence,  they  perceived  that  they  were, 
indeed,  made  naked  to  their  shame;  and  their  outward  na- 
kedness, appeared  an  indication  of  the  exposed  and  shameful 
condition  to  which  they  were  reduced." 

The  aggravated  guilt  of  the  sin  of  our  first  parents,  it  is  aw° 
ful  to  contemplate.  I  think  it  cannot  be  better  described, 
than  in  the  following  passage  from  a  commentary  on  Gen.  iii. 
6,  by  the  excellent  writer  whom  I  have  just  now  quoted. — > 
"  Considering  this  offence  in  all  its  circumstances,  and  with 
all  its  aggravations,  we  may  term  it  the  prolifick  parent  and 
grand  examplar,  of  all  the  transgressions  committed  on  earth 
ever  since. — Whatever  there  hath  been  in  any  sin  of  unbe- 


236  LECTURES  ON  THE 

lief,  ingratitude,  apostacy,  rebellion,  robbery,  contempt,  de- 
fiance, hard  thou2;hts  of  God,  and  enmity  against  Him  :  what- 
ever there  hath  been  of  idolatry,  as  comprehending  faith  in 
Satan,  the  god  and  prince  of  this  world,  worship  of  him  and 
obedience  to  him;  of  exorbitant  pride,  self-love,  and  self-will, 
in  affecting  that  independency,  exaltation  and  homage  which 
belong  to  God ;  and  of  inordinate  love  to  the  creatures,  in 
seeking  our  happiness  in  the  possession  and  enjoyment  of 
them :  whatever  discontent,  sensual  lust,  covetousness,  mur- 
der and  mischief,  were  ever  yet  contained  in  any  one  sin,  or 
all  which  have  been  committed  upon  earth,  the  whole  con- 
centered iii  this  one  transaction. — Nor  have  they  been  wide 
of  the  truth,  who  have  laboured  to  prove,  that  all  the  ten  com- 
mandments, extensively  and  spiritually  expounded,  were  at 
once  violated:  and  the  more  reasonable  the  prohibition,  and 
the  more  trifling  the  inducement  were,  the  more  aggravated 
was  the  offence,"  • 

But  great  as  the  sin  of  our  first  parents  was,  it  is  comfort- 
able to  think — and  how  does  it  illustrate  the  boundless  conde- 
scension and  mercy  of  God  to  know ! — that  there  is  reason  to 
conclude  it  was  forgiven.  •  There  have  been  a  few  indeed  who 
have  held  the  contrary  opinion,  and  have  maintained  that 
Adam  and  Eve  perished  in  their  sin.  But  the  general  current 
of  opinion  has  always  been  against  this  conclusion.  And  to 
my  apprehension  the  scriptures,  although  they  do  not  in  so. 
many  words  say  that  they  were  pardoned,  yet  intimate  it 
with  sufiicient  clearness.  To  them  the  first  promise  of  the  co- 
venant of  grace  was  made — the  promise  of  salvation  through 
a  Redeemer — namely,  that  the  seed  of  the  woman  should 
bruise  the  serpent's  head :  and  it  seems  to  be  made  in  such  a 
manner  as  clearly  to  intimate  their  personal  interest  in  it. 
Other  passages  also  lead  to  the  same  desirable  conclusion. 
On  the  whole,  there  is  I  apprehend  no  reason  to  doubt  that 
Adam  and  Eve  are  among  the  redeemed  of  the  Lord,  and  that 
our  first  parents  will  meet  in  heaven  with  all  their  offspring 
who  shall  be  admitted  there; — that  the  infinite  reach  of  re- 
deeming mercy  claimed  its  first  and  brightest  trophy,  in  the 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  237 

remission  of  their  sin  who  had  ruined  a  world ;  and  that  in 
this  example,  as  in  many  since,  the  forgiveness  of  the  chief 
of  sinners  showed  beyond  a  doubt,  that  though  every  unbe- 
liever shall  certainly  perish,  yet  that  whosoever  believeth 
shall  as  certainly  be  saved. 

In  closing  this  lecture,  let  me  lead  you  to  reflect  for  a  few 
moments— 

1.  On  the  unreasonableness  of  jin.  The  unreasonableness 
of  any  act,  or  system  of  conduct,  is  ascertained  by  its  contra- 
riety to  equity,  propriety  and  wisdom,  or  by  its  violation  of  a 
righteous  precept  or  requisition.  Now,  can  any  thing  be 
more  equitable,  proper,  wise,  and  righteous,  than  the  law  of 
God,  which  requires  us  to  love,  obey,  and  serve  him,  with 
all  our  powers?  He  is  infinitely  worthy  of  our  love;  he  is 
our  Creator  and  benefactor;  and  to  love  and  obey  him  is  to 
ensure  our  own  highest  happiness,  as  well  as  to  promote  his 
declarative  glory.  But  every  act  of  sin  is  committed  in  disre- 
gard of  all  these  powerful  and  constraining  considerations, 
and  in  violation  of  all  the  sacred  obligations  which  they  in- 
volve. Can  any  thing  be  more  perfectly  contrary  than  this, 
to  evepy  dictate  of  reason  ?  In  putting  this  question,  I  wish 
for  a  moment  to  leave  out  of  sight,  if  I  could,  the  guilt  of  sin. 
Men  do  not  think  as  they  ought,  of  the  contrariety  of  every 
sin  to  all  that  is  rational  and  equitable.  If  they  would 
dwell  upon  this  till  they  saw  it  clearly,  it  would  bring  home 
to  their  consciences  a  sense  of  guilt,  with  irresistible  force. 

2.  Let  us  for  a  moment  think  of  the  malignity,  or  evil  na- 
ture of  sin,  as  seen  in  its  effects.  It  has  awfully  changed,  in 
our  world,  the  creation  of  God  both  moral  and  natural. 
There  must  be  something  inconceivably  deadl}^  in  this  evil, 
that  could  thus  transfuse  its  poison,  through  successive  ages, 
into  every  vein  and  member  of  a  universe  —wilhering  every 
thing  that  it  touches,  and  changing  every  thing  from  all  that 
was  fair,  and  lovely,  and  holy,  into  all  that  is  foul,  and  hate- 
ful, and  hellish.     And  yet — 

3.  We  are  to  remember  and  lay  it  deeply  to  heart,  that  this 
horrible  and  destructive  evil  has  been  cherished  in  our  own 


238  '  LECTURES  ON  THE 

bosoms,  and  has  polluted  us  throughout.  We  are  sinners- 
sinners  of  no  ordinary  character — sinners  whose  guilt  is  ag- 
gravated by  every  circumstance  that  can  heighten  transgres- 
sion ;  and  who,  if  our  sins  are  not  pardoned,  are  the  heirs  ap- 
parent of  a  peculiarly  large  portion  of  "  the  wrath  to  come.'^ 
But— 

4.  The  transcendent  mercy  of  God  has  provided  a  complete 
remedy — has  provided  a  Saviour.  We  may  be  "  washed, 
and  sanctified,  and  justified,  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus, 
and  by  the  Spirit  of  our  God."  Now  is  all  this  so  ! — and  is  it 
yet  possible  that  any  sinner  should  reject  this  Saviour!  Yes, 
it  is  all  so — and  sinners  thus  guilty,  polluted,  condemned,  and 
perishing,  do  reject  this  Saviour — presented  to  them,  and 
pressed  on  their  acceptance!  Ah!  this  is  the  sin  of  sins;  the 
sin  that  cuts  the  soul  oflf  from  its  remedy  and  seals  its  perdi- 
tion : — this  is  the  damning  sin  of  unbelief!  And  will  any 
of  you,  my  young  friends,  continue  in  this  sin  and  risk  its 
consequences?  Can  you  go  to  your  pillows  this  night,  with 
a  quiet  mind,  with  all  your  guilt  unpardoned?  Raise  the  ear- 
nest aspirations  of  your  souls  to  God  with  the  breath  that  you 
now  draw,  to  aid  you  by  his  grace — and  so  aided,  seek  till 
you  find  reconciliation  with  God,  and  the  pardon  and  cleans- 
ing of  all  your  sins,  through  the  atoning  blood  and  sanctifying 
Spirit  of  Jesus,  our  Redeeming  God.     Amen. 


LECTURE  XVII. 

Did  all  mankind  fall  in  AdanCs  first  transgression? 

The  important  and  interesting  subject  of  discussion  now 
before  us,  is  thus  stated  in  our  catechism  : — "  The  covenant 
being  made  with  Adam,  not  only  for  himself,  but  for  his  pos- 
terity, all  mankind  descending  from  him  by  ordinary  genera- 
tion, sinned  in  him,  and  fell  with  him,  in  his  first  transgres- 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  239 

The  first  point  demanding  attention  in  this  answer  is,  that 
the  covenant  made  with  Adam  related  not  only  to  himself, 
but  to  his  posterity.  Let  us  examine  what  evidence  we  have 
of  the  truth  of  this  position. 

We  hav^e  heretofore  shown  that  a  covenant  was  made  with 
Adam;  and  that  the  promise  of  it  was  eternal  life,  and  the 
penalty  eternal  death.  But  how  does  it  appear  that  this  pro- 
mise, or  penalty,  was  to  reach  all  his  offspring,  as  well  as  him- 
self? Can  it  be  clearly  shown  that  Adam  was  the  represen- 
tative and  covenant  head  of  his  posterity,  so  that  they  were  to 
be  considered  as  standing  or  falling  with  him?  Yes,  my 
young  friends,  this  is  clear,  beyond  all  rational  controversy. 
It  is  clear,  both  from  the  unequivocal  statements  of  scripture, 
and  from  observation  on  the  actual  state  of  the  world.  The 
Apostle  Paul,  in  more  than  one  instance,  runs  a  parallel  be- 
tween the  ruin  brought  on  the  whole  race  of  man  by  the  dis- 
obedience of  Adam,  and  the  benefits  procured  by  Christ  for  all 
his  sincere  disciples:  and  this  parallel  is  run  in  such  manner 
as  to  put  it  beyond  a  reasonable  doubt,  that  Adam  was  a  cove- 
nant head  in  the  fall,  and  Christ  a  covenant  head  in  the  re- 
demption and  restoration  of  man.  In  a  word — and  that  the 
word  of  inspiration — "  By  one  man  sin  entered  into  the 
world,  and  death  by  sin;  and  so  death  passed  upon  all  men, 
for  that  all  have  sinned." 

Farther. — Observation  oYi  the  actual  state  of  the  world  de- 
monstrates that  there  is  much  moral  evil  in  it.  This  is  not 
denied  as  a  fact,  by  any  but  atheists.  It  is  readily  admitted 
by  many  of  those  who  deny  altogether  the  prevalent  tenden- 
cy of  our  nature  to  evil, — which  is  to  be  particularly  consi- 
dered in  a  subsequent  discussion.  If  mankind  then  are  ad- 
mitted to  be  actually  in  a  state  of  depravity,  and  it  be  incon- 
sistent, as  heretofore  shown,  with  all  our  ideas  of  the  divine 
character  and  perfections,  that  man  should  have  been  original- 
ly formed  by  his  Creator  in  a  sinful  or  depraved  state,  it  fol- 
lows, that  he  is  not  now  in  the  state  in  which  h6  was  original- 
ly formed.  Without  revelation  indeed,  we  could  not  know 
that  he  fell  from  that  state  by  his  connexion  with  his  first 


240  LllCTURES  ON  THE 

parent  as  a  federal  head;  but  the  fact  that  he  is  depraved, 
being  ascertained  by  observation,  the  scripture  representation 
that  he  fell  in  his  original  progenitor,  is  seen  to  give  the  best 
accolint  that  can  be  given  of  this  mournful  fact. 

Let  us  now  shortly  consider  the  equity  of  this  constitution. 
As  it  was  the  appointment  of  God,  we  know  indeed  before 
hand  that  it  was  perfectl}'  equitable  and  righteous;  because 
all  the  divine  appointments  certainly  possess  this  character. 
We  are,  however,  permitted  humbly  to  investigate  the  Divine 
proceedings,  and  to  discover,  as  far  as  we  can,  the  ground  on 
which  they  rest.  In  the  particular  before  us,  I  am  of  the 
opinion  that  we  can  discover  a  part  of  the  ways  of  God,  and 
that  a  part  must  be  res'olved  into  his  holy  sovereignty. 

We  are  acquainted  with  two  orders  of  moral  and  dependent 
beings,— angels  and  men.  Between  these  there  is,  in  many 
respects,  a  wide  difference,  particularly  in  this — that  angels 
-were  not  formed  to  be  propagated  like  men,  in  successive 
generations.  Angels  were  all  created  at  once,  by  the  imme- 
diate agency  of  the  Creator.  Of  the  human  race  only  two 
were  formed  at  first,  and  from  these  all  the  rest  have  descend- 
ed by  ordinary  generation.  As  all  angels  were  created  at 
once,  each  was  capable  of  acting  for  himself,  in  the  full  matu- 
rity of  his  powers.  Accordingly  it  appears  that  each  did  act 
for  himself;  that  there  was  no  federal  head  among  them — that 
each  individual  stood  or  fell  for  himself  alone.  That  it  was 
otherwise  in  the  case  of  man,  seems  to  be  a  kind  of  necessary 
consequence  of  that  law  of  his  nature,  by  which  each  generation 
is  derived  from  that  which  immediately  precedes  it,  and  all 
from  the  first.  This  law  is  not  peculiar  to  man,  but  extends 
to  all  animals,  and  even  to  all  the  vegetable  tribes.  It  is  an 
invariable  law  of  the  whole,  that  like  shall  produce  its  like — 
that  the  offspring  shall  resemble  the  parent.  On  this  law  de- 
pends the  preservation  of  that  beautiful  variety  of  beings 
which  was  at  first  created,  and  that  knowledge  of  what  we 
are  to  expect  in  their  successive  productions,  so  useful,  if 
not  essential,  to  our  comfort  and  existence.  Observe  then, 
that  Adam's  being  made  the  federal  head  of  his  posterity, 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  341 

both  standing  and  falling,  was  just  one  instance  of  this  univer- 
sal law  of  propagated  beings, — that  like  shall  produce  its  like. 
So  that  the  question  really  comes  to  this,  whether  it  was 
equitable  for  the  Creator  to  ordain  such  a  law,  and  to  extend 
it  to  man  ? — and  this  is  only,  in  other  words,  to  ask  whether 
it  was  equitable  for  Him  to  make  such  a  world  as  he  has  ac- 
tually made. 

I  am  aware,  my  young  friends,  that  what  I  have  just  been 
saying  affords  not  a  full  solution  of  the  difficulty  before  us. 
But  I  do  think  that  presenting  it  under  this  aspect,  affords 
some  relief  to  a  contemplative  and  humble  mind.  It  shows 
that  if  Adam  had  not  been  the  federal  head  of  his  posterity, 
there  would  have  been  an  anomaly  in  creation — a  violation 
of  the  law  which  the  infinitely  wise  Creator  has  ordained 
for  all  propagated  beings — -that  like  shall  beget  its  like. 
Think  for  a  moment,  that  if  Adam  had  retained  his  holiness, 
all  his  offspring  would,  like  himself  have  been  holy  and 
happy.  Would  not  this  have  been  equitable!  If  it  would,  it 
must  be  equitable  that  his  offspring  should  be  unholy,  when 
he  became  so.  The  principle  is  the  same,  however  it  may 
affect  the  actual  condition  of  our  race.  If  hereditary  holiness 
and  happiness  would  have  been  equitable,  hereditary  depravi- 
ty and  misery  must  be  equitable  also.  Accordingly  we  are 
told  in  scripture,  that  after  man  fell,  "  he  begat  a  son  in  his 
own  likeness" — in  his  moral  likeness,  as  well  as  in  his  bodily 
organization. 

Let  it  farther  be  considered,  that  men  were  to  be  born  in  a 
state  of  infantile  weakness.  Now,  during  this  state,  would 
they,  I  ask,  have  been  as  competent  to  resist  temptation,  as 
Adam  was  in  the  perfection  of  his  powers.^  It  has  been  often 
said  on  this  subject,  and  I  think  with  truth,  that  every  indi- 
vidual had  a  fairer  prospect  of  a  favourable  issue  to  a  state  of 
probation,  by  being  represented  in  Adam,  than  if  he  had 
stood  for  himself — That  is,  if  he  had  stood  for  himself,  he 
would  have  been  far  more  likely  to  fall  than  Adam  was.  The 
high  responsibility  of  Adam — the  knowledge  that  he  stood 
for  his  posterity — was  doubtless  a  strong  inducement  to  him 

2   H 


242  LECTURES  ON  THE 

to  maintain  his  integrity.  In  a  word  then,  the  whole  re- 
maining difficulty  lies  here— why,  when  Adam  had  fallen, 
was  he  not  cut  off  at  once,  and  not  permitted  to  propagate  a 
race  of  sinners?  Here  we  are  to  bow  to  the  sovereignty  of 
God — Not  however  without  having  light  enough  to  see,  that 
he  hath  manifested  his  infinite  goodness,  as  well  as  his  sove- 
reignty, even  in  this  dispensation.  On  the  continuance  of  a 
race  of  sinners — as  I  recently  had  occasion  to  remark — is 
grounded  the  whole  plan  and  work  of  redemption  by  Christ: 
a  work  which  will  ultimately  display  the  glory  of  God,  more 
than  any  other;  a  w^ork  which  will  raise  the  redeemed  of  the 
Lord  to  higher  happiness  than  they  could  have  known,  if 
they  had  not  fallen  :  and  a  work  which,  notwithstanding  the 
endless  misery  of  those  who  perish,  will  probably  produce 
an  infinite  counterbalance  of  happiness,  in  the  moral  and  in- 
telligent creation.  On  this  subject,  as  well  as  on  those  points 
related  to  it,  the  remarks  of  the  excellent  Witsius,  are  as  sa- 
tisfactory as  any  thing  I  have  met  with.  They  may  be  seen 
in  the  last  five  sections  of  the  second  chapter  of  his  treatise 
on  "  The  Economy  of  the  Covenants."  They  expand  and 
illustrate  the  ideas  which  I  have  now  suggested;  and  such  of 
you  as  may  have  the  opportunity  may  read  them  with  advan- 
tage— We  have  not  time  to  repeat  them  at  present. 

Having  shown  that  Adam  was  the  covenant  head  of  his 
posterity,  and  likewise  considered  the  equity  of  this  appoint- 
ment, it  may  be  proper  to  say  a  few  words  on  the  manner  in 
which  a  corrupt  or  depraved  nature  has  been  transmitted  from 
one  generation  of  men  to  another — from  Adam  to  the  present 
time.  Nothing  that  I  have  ever  seen  on  the  subject — and 
much  has  been  written  on  it — has  appeared  to  me  so  perti- 
nent as  the  following  remarks  of  Dr.  Witherspoon;  and  I 
only  regret  that  he  has  not  given  more  expansion  to  the  few 
important  and  judicious  observations  which  I  shall  now  re- 
peat. He  says — ^'  As  to  the  transmission  of  original  sin,  the 
question  is  to  be  sure  difficult,  and  we  ought  to  be  reserved 
upon  the  subject.  St.  Augustine  said,  it  was  of  more  conse- 
quence to  know  how  we  are  delivered  from  sin  by  Christ, 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  243 

than  how  we  tlerive  it  from  Adam.  Yet  we  shall  say  a  few 
words  on  this  topick.  It  seems  to  be  agreed  by  the  greatest 
part,  that  the  soul  is  not  derived  from  our  parents  by  natural 
generation ;  and  yet  it  seems  not  reasonable  to  suppose  that 
the  soul  is  created  impure.  Therefore  it  should  follow,  that 
a  general  corruption  is  communicated  by  the  body;  and  that 
there  is  so  close  a  union  between  the  soul  and  body,  that  the 
impressions  conveyed  to  us  through  the  bodily  organs,  do 
tend  to  attach  the  affections  of  the  soul  to  things  earthly  and 
sensible.  If  it  should  be  said  that  the  soul,  on  this  supposi- 
tion, must  be  united  to  the  body  as  an  act  of  punishment  or 
severity,  I  would  answer,  that  the  soul  is  united  to  the  body 
as  an  act  of  government,  by  which  the  Creator  decreed  that 
men  should  be  propagated  by  way  of  natural  generation. 
And  many  have  supposed  that  the  souls  of  all  men  that  ever 
shall  be,  were  created  at  the  beginning  of  the  world,  and  gra- 
dually came  to  the  exercise  of  their  powers,  as  the  bodies 
came  into  existence  to  which  they  belong." 

Agreeing,  as  I  do  fully,  with  what  is  here  stated,  I  shall 
do  nothing  more  than  enlarge  a  little,  on  the  ideas  suggested 
in  the  quotation.  You  will  carefully  observe  then,  that  it  is 
stated,  that  this  is  a  difficult  point  in  theology,  and  of  course 
that  we  ought  to  be  reserved  in  speaking  upon  it..  Wherever 
scripture  is  silent,  it  is  best  for  us  either  to  be  silent  too,  or 
else  to  speak  with  great  diffidence  and  caution ;  and  to  lay 
down  nothing  that  we  would  propose  as  a  matter  of  faith,  but 
only  as  a  speculation,  in  which  the  mind  may  indulge  as  of- 
fering a  solution  of  some  difficulty,  and  which  we  may  re- 
ceive as  probable,  but  not  as  certain.  Now  I  think  the  scrip- 
ture is  entirely  silent  on  this  very  point.  It  offers  us,  as  we 
have  seen,  abundant  evidence  of  the  fact,  that  guilt  has  been 
transmitted;  that  a  depraved  nature  has  descended  from 
Adam  to  us,  and  will  continue  to  be  transmitted  to  the  end 
of  time.  But  I  am  not  able  to  recollect  a  single  passage  of 
scripture,  which  professes  to  explain  the  mode,  or  method,  in 
which  this  depravity  is  transmitted;  or  to  give  any  clear  in- 
formation on  the  subject,  be57ond  what  has  been  already  men- 


244  LECTURES  ON  THE 

tioned,  that  the  posterity  of  Adam  resemble  their  first  pa- 
rents— How  the  moral,  or  rather  immoral  tendencies  of  our 
nature,  are  communicated  from  parents  to  children,  is  a  thinsj 
scarcely,  if  at  all,  touched  upon  in  the  sacred  volume.  If  it 
be  alluded  to  in  a  passage  which  I  shall  presently  cite,  it  is 
not  explained.  This  then  is  another  point  of  the  same  cha- 
racter with  several  heretofore  mentioned ;  in  regard  to  which 
it  would  seem  to  be  the  plan  or  system  of  the  Bible,  not  to 
speak.  It  always  speaks  plainly  and  fully  in  relation  to  facts 
and  duties ;  but  it  rarely  says  any  thing  in  explanation  of  ab- 
struse theories,  or  of  the  manner  in  which  things  of  this  sort 
take  place.  Facts  and  duties  we  need  to  know,  that  our 
hearts  and  lives  may  be  influenced  by  them.  Theories  prin- 
cipally serve  to  gratify  curiosity;  and  to  such  gratification  in- 
spiration seldom  ministers.  Frequently  no  doubt  it  is  silent 
on  such  topicks,  because  we  either  are  not  capable  at  present 
of  understanding  an  explanation,  or  it  is  best  that  we  should 
not  have  it. 

Again — Although  the  scripture  does  not  tell  us  how  the 
depravity  of  man  is  transmitted  from  parents  to  their  off- 
spring, it  says  enough,  1  apprehend,  to  show,  agreeably  to 
the  remark  of  the.author  quoted,  that  the  soul  is  not  derived 
from  our  parents,  like  the  body,  and  that  the  soul  is  not 
created  impure.  The  scripture  gives  us  abundant  and  une- 
quivocal evidence,  that  the  soul  may  and  will  exist,  sepa- 
rately from  the  body — Of  course,  the  soul  is  not  a  part  of  that 
material  organization  which  we  derive  from  our  parents,  and 
which  at  death  returns  to  the  dust.  On  the  whole,  as  the 
quotation  recited  intimates,  if  we  must  speculate  and  form  a 
theory  on  this  subject,  the  safest  and  most  rational  is,  to  sup- 
pose that  all  souls  were  created  at  the  beginning  of  the  world; 
that  they  remain  inactive,  till  the  bodies  which  they  are  to 
inhabit  are  formed;  that  on  union  with  these  bodies,  they 
receive  all  their  original  impressions  by  means  of  the  exter- 
nal senses;  that  the  whole  system  of  the  bodily  appetite^  and 
propensities,  with  the  fancy  or  imagination  which  is  closely 
connected  with  them,  having  become  irregular,  excessive  and 


SHORTER    CATECHISM.  245 

perverted,  by  the  fall,  do  unavoidably  and  immediately  cor- 
rupt the  soul,  and  enslave  it  to  sin.  This  appears  to  me  safe 
as  a  theory,  and  far  more  rational  than  either  the  system  of 
the  materialists,  or  that  which  supposes  the  unceasing  crea- 
tion of  souls.  So  far  as  it  relates  to  the  manner  in  which  the 
soul  is  corrupted  by  the  body,  it  seems  to  me  to  coincide 
with  the  numerous  expressions  of  St.  Paul — perhaps  to  be 
countenanced  by  those  expressions — in  which  a  carnal  or 
fleshly  mind,  is  put  for  human  depravity.  By  this  apostle, 
the  whole  embodied  principles  of  sin  are  emphatically  deno- 
minated the  flesh — "  The  flesh  lusteth  against  the  Spirit, 
and  the  Spirit  against  the  flesh,  and  these  are  contrary  the 
one  to  the  other,  so  that  ye  cannot  do  the  things  that  ye 
would. '^  For  some  reason  or  other,  the  flesh  is  here  repre- 
sented as  the  source  and  seat  of  sin. 

It  now  only  remains  to  consider  that  part  of  the  answer 
before  us,  which  affirms  that  *'  all  mankind  sinned  in  Adam," 
as  well  as  "  fell  with  him  in  his  first  transgression."  The 
meaning  of  this  is,  that  each  individual  of  the  human  race 
stands  charged,  in  the  sight  of  God,  with  having  transgressed 
the  divine  law  in  Adam's  first  sin.  This  indeed  naturally 
and  unavoidably  follows,  from  Adam  being  a  covenant  head. 
The  essence  of  that  relation  consisted  in  this  very  thing,  that 
his  act  was  tb  be  viewed  and  treated  as  the  act  of  each  of 
those  whom  he  represented,  so  that  they  are  to  be  considered 
as  individually  acting  with  him — as  a  part  of  himself — in  the 
original  transgression.  President  Edwards  has  illustrated 
this  last  idea  with  great  ingenuity  in  his  treatise  on  Original 
Sin.  You  will  be  careful,  however,  to  remark  and  remem- 
ber that  this  relates  only  to  the  first  sin  of  Adam,  in  eating 
the  forbidden  fruit — all  his  subsequent  sins  had  no  more  re- 
lation to  his  posterity  than  the  sins  of  any  other  individual. 
But  in  his  first  sin — in  transgressing  by  eating  the  forbidden 
fruit — he  was  the  representative  of  his  race. 

To  the  whole  statement  that  has  now  been  given  many  ob- 
jections, we  know,  have  been  made;  but  all  the  answer  which 
I  think  necessary  to  return  to  them,  has  been  given  already. 


246  LECTURES  ON  THE 

in  showing  that  it  was  an  equitable,  yea,  to  us,  a  favourable 
dispensation,  to  constitute  Adam  the  federal  head  of  his  pos- 
terity;— for  his  being  a  federal  head  consisted,  as  just  now 
remarked,  in  this  very  thing.  It  stands  on  the  same  ground 
— and  it  is  so  represented  by  the  apostle — as  our  justification 
by  the  imputed  righteousness  of  Christ.  "  For  as  by  one 
man's  disobedience  many  were  made  sinners  :  so,  by  the 
obedience  of  one,  shall  many  be  made  righteous."  In  the 
first  Adam  we  were  losers,  in  the  second  our  gain  is  infinite. 
As  to  the  fact,  that  every  individual  of  the  human  race  is 
accounted  a  partaker  of  Adam's  guilt,  it  is  expressly  taught  in 
that  often  repeated  passage — "  By  one  man  sin  entered  into 
the  world,  and  death  by  sin,  and  so  death  passed  upon  all 
men,  for  that  all  have  sinned."  There  is  really  no  avoiding 
the  point  in  question,  in  construing  these  words  in  connexion 
with  their  context.  The  very  scope,  pith,  and  force,  of  the 
apostle's  whole  argument  is,  that  all  men  die  because  all  have 
sinned — and  sinned  in  Adam.  The  case  of  infants,  "  who 
have  not  sinned  after  the  similitude  of  Adam's  transgres- 
sion," is  distinctly  stated  and  considered.  They  die  before 
they  are  capable  of  actual  sin,  because  they  sinned  in  their 
federal  head  and  representative.* 

*  While  we  have  been  reviewing  these  lectures  for  republication,  a  contro- 
versy has  been  going  on  in  our  country  on  the  nature  of  sin.  One  of  the  parties 
in  this  controversy  maintains,  that  there  is,  and  can  be,  no  sin,  but  that  which 
consists  in  voluntary  action — in  the  acts  of  choice  of  moral  agents.  This 
party  at  the  same  time  admits,  that  there  is  a  period  during  which  infants  are 
not  moral  agents  ;  and  of  course,  to  be  consistent,  strenuously  maintains  that 
while  this  period  lasts,  infants  are  entirely  without  sin.  "  Why  then — asks  the 
other  party — do  infants  die  .?  And  are  they  saved  through  the  death  of  Christ .'"' 
To  the  first  of  these  questions  the  answer  returned  is — "  brutes  die  also."  On 
this  we  remark,  that  if  man  had  not  sinned,  we  have  no  reason  to  believe  that 
even  brutes  would  have  died  as  they  noto  do — often  with  extreme  pain  and  j)ro- 
tracted  misery,  after  a  life  of  almost  incessant  suffering  from  the  cruelty  of 
man.  In  what  manner  they  would  have  continued  their  existence,  or  have 
returned  to  their  native  dust,  revelation  has  not  informed  us,  and  therefore 
we  cannot  know.  We  can  conceive  that  they  might  have  died  as  they  now 
fall  asleep — with  pleasure,  rather  than  with  pain.  We  think  we  may  fairly  con- 
clude, that  neither  in  life  nor  in  death,  would  their  existence  have  been  pro- 
ductive of  pain ;  because  the  apostle  teaches  us,  that  all  the  pain  there  is  in 
our  world  is  the  consequence  of  man's  sin — Rom.  viii.  22.  "  We  know  that 
the  whole  creation  [Trcto-*  «  »T«<r/?,  every  creature]  groaneth  and  travaileth  in 
pain  together  until  now:'"  And  the  context  shows  that  the  whole  of  this 
is  the  bitter  fruit  of  human  transgression.  It  is  no  satisfactory  answer,  then, 
to  say,  that  infants  suffer  as  brutes  suffer ;  when  sin  is  the  cause  that  both 
suffer.     It  is  still  true  that  infants  suffer  and  die  as  a  penalty  for  sin— for  sin 


SHORTER  CATECHISM-  347 

And  truly,  my  young  friends,  if  we  reject  this  doctrine, 
the  difficulty  remaining  will  not  be  less,  but  greater.  That 
infants  do  often  suffer  the  most  agonizing  pain  and  distress, 
ending  in  death,  is  just  a  stubborn  fact  which  no  one  can 
deny.  Now,  it  is  agreed  on  all  hands,  that  they  have  no 
actual  sin.  If  then  they  do  not  suffer  in  consequence  of  their 
connexion  with  a  sinful  progenitor,  wh}^  do  they  suffer? 
They  must  suffer  without  any  fault,  either  personal  or  fede- 
ral: That  is,  their  Maker  subjects  them  to  these  agonies, 
without  any  moral  delinquency — without  any  just  cause. 
To  say  this,  is  a  direct  impeachment  of  the  justice  and  good- 
ness of  the  ever  blessed  God.  It  is  therefore  far  the  less  of  the 
two  difficulties — if  a  difficulty  it  be  esteemed — to  believe  that 
they  are  considered  and  treated  as  having  sinned  in  Adam, 
than  to  believe  that  they  are  treated  thus,  without  any  moral 
stain,  either  of  their  own  contracting,  or  derived  from  their 
parents.  To  say  that  they  derive  only  a  suffering  and  dying 
nature  from  Adam,  and  must  submit  to  the  law  of  the  nature 
which  they  now  possess,  affords  no  explanation,  or  relief  at 
all:  For  this  suffering  and  dying  nature  is  itself  the  fruit  of 
sin, — the  very  bitter  fruit  of  which  we  are  speaking,  and  of 
which,  on  this  supposition,  they  are  made  to  taste  in  a  most 
distressing  manner,  without  defection  or  culpability  of  any 
kind  whatsoever. 

which  they  have  not  yet  been  able  to  commit,  "  after  the  similitude  of  Adam's 
transgression." — They  must  therefore  be  considered  as  having  "  sinned  in 
himj"  as  our  Catechism  teaches,  and  as  President  Edwards  has  ably  and  satis- 
factorily shown.  Whatever  may  be  said  of  brutes,  we  know  that  the  oracles 
of  infallible  truth  teach,  in  regard  to  man,  that  "  the  wages  of  sin  is  death" — 
The  death  of  every  human  being  was  intended  to  mark  and  proclaim  him  a 
sinner.  Yet  according  to  this  new  theory,  death  is  inflicted  on  myriads  of  the 
human  family,  as  free  from  sin  as  Adam  was  immediately  after  God  "breathed 
into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of  life,  and  man  became  a  living  soul."  Is  it  not 
"  astonishing  to  what  shifts  men  will  resort,  to  support  the  doctrine"  that 
all  sin  "consists  in  man's  ozow  aci  of  choice."  In  regard  moreover  to  the 
admission  of  these  sinless  infants  into  heaven,  it  is  distinctly  stated,  that 
"  the  only  ground  on  which  it  can  be  hoped  for  is  that  atonement  of  Christ, 
by  which  the  moral  government  of  God  has  been  sustained ;  the  influence 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  secured  for  the  sanctification  of  God's  elect;  and  the  un- 
fading glories  of  heaven  laid  open  to  those  who,  through  grace,  are  made  heirs 
of  eternal  life" — That, is,  "a  distinguished  writer  of  the  nineteenth  century 
has  taught"  that  an  alunement  has  been  made  for  those  who  have  never  sin- 
ned; and  the  Holy  Spirit  sanclijies  those  who  have  never  become  unholy ; 
and  heaven  is  obtained  through  grace,  by  those  who  have  never  forfeited  the 
favour  of  their  Creator  '  ' 


5248  LECTURES  ON  THE- 

You  see  then,  that  the  scripture  doctrine,  that  every  indi- 
vidual of  the  human  race  sinned  in  Adam,  is  not  only  true 
in  itself,  but  less  difficult  than  any  other.  I  speak  this,  my 
young  friends,  most  deliberately.  I  have  examined  the  sub- 
ject before  us  long  and  closely — And  I  assure  you  on  full  con- 
viction, that  if  you  turn  blank  infidels  and  throw  away  your 
Bibles;  or  if  you  turn  hereticks,  and  deny  altogether  the 
doctrine  of  original  sin,  you  will  not  only  act  wickedly,  but 
you  will  then  have  more  formidable  and  insolvable  difficul- 
ties to  dispose  of,  than  are  found  in  the  creed  of  any  ortho- 
dox Christian.  The  orthodox  faith  is  in  this,  as  in  many 
other  particulars,  not  merely  the  safest — it  is  the  easiest  and 
most  rational  faith. 

In  conclusion,  then,  I  exhort  you — 

1.  To  fix  and  settle  your  faith  on  the  point  you  have  now 
heard  discussed,  on  those  grounds  of  scripture  to  which  I  have 
pointed  your  attention.  Fix  and  settle  it  here,  and  then 
cease  to  muse  on  the  difficulties  which  you  may  find  attend- 
ant on  the  truth.  To  be  constantly  poring  on  these,  is  as  un- 
profitable as  it  is  unpleasant — That  we  are  sinners  is  incon- 
trovertible. The  scripture  tells  us  how  our  sinfulness  origi- 
nated. Let  us  receive  what  it  tells,  and  here  let  our  specu- 
lations end.     Yet — 

2.  Let  not  your  concern  in  regard  to  this  subject,  by  any 
means,  end  with  your  speculations.  No  assuredly— but  lay 
it  closely  and  solemnly  to  heart,  that  in  your  natural  state, 
you  are  depraved  throughout.  I  would  to  God,  my  dear 
youth,  that  you  did  all  feel  as  you  ought  to  feel,  on  this  sub- 
ject. It  would  neither  make  you  careless,  nor  sink  you  into 
despondency.  It  would  make  you  anxious  and  earnest  to 
have  your  natures  renewed  and  sanctified,  by  the  almighty 
energy  of  the  Holy  Spirit — To  be  "created  anew  in  Christ 
Jesus  unto  love  and  to  good."  Here  is  the  only  remedy — 
and  blessed  be  God,  it  is  an  effectual  remedy^ — for  the  deep 
pollution,  the  entire  depravity  of  our  fallen  race.  Betake 
yourselves  therefore,  without  delay,  to  this  remedy.  Seek 
the  renewing  influences  of  divine  grace;  that  being  washed 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  249 

and  justified  and  sanctified  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  and 
by  the  Spirit  of  our  God,  you  may  be  delivered  from  all  the 
ruins  of  the  apostacy,  and  be  made  meet  for  the  inheritance 
of  the  saints  in  light. 


LECTURE  XVIIL 

Into  ivhat  estate  did  the  fall  bring  Mankind? 

Wherein  consists  the  sinfulness  of  that  estate  tvJiereinto  Man  fell? 

Tfliat  is  the  misery  of  that  estate  whereinto  Man  fell? 

The  answer  of  our  catechism  next  in  order  is  the  following 
— "The  fall  brought  mankind  into  an  estate  of  sin  and  mi- 
sery." 

The  chief  design  of  this  answer  is  to  make  the  distribution 
of  a  subject,  afterwards  to  be  discussed.  To  say  much  upon 
it  would  only  be  to  anticipate  what  is  contained  in  the  two 
subsequent  answers.  I  shall  therefore  merely  request  you  to 
observe  the  nature  and  manner  of  the  statement  made  in  ^this 
answer,  which  are — that  the  sin  and  misery  brought  upon 
mankind  by  the  fall,  are  called  an  estate;  that  is,  a  perma- 
nent and  invariable  condition  of  existence,  in  which  both  sin 
and  misery  must  be  found  by  all  the  human  race;  and  that 
sin  is  placed  before  misery,  intimating  that  sin  is  the  cause 
of  misery,  and  misery  the  never  failing  consequence  of  sin. 

These  general  truths  are  developed  and  illustrated  in  the 
two  following  answers,  the  first  of  which  is  thus  expressed — 
"The  sinfulness  of  that  estate  whereinto  man  fell,  consists  in 
the  guilt  of  Adam's  first  sin,  the  want  of  original  right- 
eousness, and  the  corruption  of  his  whole  nature,  which  is 
commonly  called  original  sin,  together  vvith  all  actual  trans- 
gressions which  proceed  from  it." 

Original  sin  has  been  usually  distinguished,  or  divided,  by 
divines,  into  original  sin  imputed^  and  original  sin  inherent. 
Original  sin  imputed,  is  the  guilt  of  Adam's  first  sin,  consi- 

2i 


250  LECTURES  ON  THE 

dered  as  belonging  to  each  individual  of  his  posterity,  and 
subjecting  such  individual  to  punishment  or  suffering,  on  that 
account.  This  point,  with  the  objections  to  it,  were  treated 
at  some  length  in  the  last  lecture ;  and  it  is  not  my  purpose  to 
resume  the  subject  at  present. 

Original  sin  inherent,  is  what  is  called  in  the  answer  be- 
fore us, — "  the  want  of  original  righteousness,  and  the  corrup- 
tion of  our  whole  nature/'  "  The  want  of  original  righteous- 
ness," says  Fisher,  "  is  the  want  of  that  rectitude  and  purity 
of  nature  which  Adam  had  in  his  first  creation;  consisting  in 
a  perfect  conformity  of  all  the  powers  and  faculties  of  his  soul 
to  the  holy  nature  of  God,  and  to  the  law  that  was  written  on 
his  heart.  And  that  all  mankind  are  destitute  of  this  original 
righteousness,  appears  from  the  express  testimony  of  God, 
that  among  all  Adam's  race  'there  is  none  righteous,  no  not 
one;'  and  that  'hy  the  deeds  of  the  law  shall  no  flesh  be  jus- 
tified in  his  sight.'  It  follows,  upon  this  want  of  original 
righteousness,  that  all  mankind  are,  as  it  were,  naked  before 
God;  and  that  their  fig-leaf  coverings  will  stand  them  in  no 
stead,  before  his  omniscient  eye,  nor  answer  the  demands  of 
his  holy  law." 

But  original  sin  consists  not  in  mere  privation,  or  in  a  icant 
of  original  righteousness.  It  consists  also  in  "the  corruption 
of  our  whole  nature ;"  in  the  universal  depravation  both  of 
soul  and  body — in  all  the  faculties  of  the  one,  and  in  all  the 
members  of  the  other.  Let  us  trace  for  a  moment  the  current 
of  this  corruption,  through  the  faculties  of  the  soul;  not  enter- 
ing into  much  reasoning  on  the  subject,  but  confirming  what 
shall  be  said  by  plain  declarations  from  the  word  of  God. 

Observe  then,  that  the  understanding  of  man,  in  his  natu- 
ral depraved  state,  is  darkened  and  blinded;  so  that  while 
this  moral  obscurity  continues,  he  cannot  know  and  receive 
the  things  of  the  Spirit  of  God. — "The  natural  man  receiveth 
not  the  things  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  for  they  are  foolishness 
unto  him;  neither  Can  he  know  them,  because  they  are  spiri- 
tually discerned — Having  the  understanding  darkened,  being 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  251 

alienated  from  the  life  of  God,  through  the  ignorance  that  is 
in  them,  because  of  the  blindness  of  their  heart." 

The  will  of  the  natural  man  is  depraved  by  sin.  It  is  averse 
to  the  chief  good;  it  is  biassed  toward  evil;  it  acts  with  hos- 
tility and  rebellion  against  God.  "•  Ye  will  not  come  unto  me 
that  ye  might  have  life,"  said  our  Saviour — "The  carnal 
mind,"  says  St.  Paul,  "is  enmit}^  against  God;  for  it  is  not 
subject  to  the  law  of  God,  neither  indeed  can  be.  So  then, 
they  that  are  in  the  flesh  cannot  please  God." 

The  affections  of  man,  in  his  natural  state  are  disordered, 
perverted  and  misplaced.  They  are  set  on  trifling  vanities 
and  sinful  pleasures;  they  attach  themselves  to  ten  thousand 
improper  and  forbidden  objects ;  while  they  utterly  refuse  to 
be  placed  on  God,  as  the  supreme  good.  Their  language  con- 
stantly is — "Who  shall  show  us  any  good?"  that  is,  any 
earthly  good.  And  they  constantly  lead  every  unsanctified 
child  of  Adam  to  "  worship  and  serve  the  creature  more  than 
the  Creator,  who  is  God  over  all,  blessed  forever." 

The  memory  of  man  partakes  of  the  effects  of  his  depra- 
vity. It  is  prone  to  retain  what  is  vain  and  unprofitable, 
and  to  drop  its  hold  on  what  is  spiritual  and  truly  advanta- 
geous. Hence  the  complaint  of  Moses;  "Of  the  Rock  that 
begat  thee,  thou  art  unmindful,  and  hast  forgotten  God  that 
formed  thee."  This  indeed  was  the  frequent  charge  brought 
against  the  Israelites,  notwithstanding  the  series  of  miracles 
that  they  almost  constantly  witnessed. — "  They  forgot  the 
God  of  their  salvation."  But  the  charge  is  not  confined  to 
them.  We  find  it  mentioned  as  a  general  characteristick,  of 
the  wicked — that  they  "forget  God  ;" — that  "  God  is  not  in 
all  their  thoughts;"  and  experience  abundantly  confirms  this 
truth. 

The  "Conscience  of  man  is  affected  by  his  depravity.  Some- 
times it  is  violated  till  it  becomes  seared  "  as  with  a  hot  iron." 
But  when  this  is  not  the  case,  it  too  often  performs  its  office 
imperfectly;  not  reproving  and  condemning  when  it  ought, 
especially  for  secret  sins.     Sometimes  it  is  so  perverted  thai. 


252  LECTURES  ON  THE 

in  the  language  of  Scripture,  it  "  calls  evil  good,  and  good 
evil;  puts  light  for  darkness,  and  darkness  for  light." 

In  regard  to  the  body,  it  was,  you  may  remember,  shown 
in  the  last  lecture,  that  it  is  the  body  which  is  the  instrument 
of  corrupting  the  soul ; — that  in  Scripture  "  the  flesh"  is  re- 
presented as  the  seat  and  source  of  sin.  It  is  in  consequence 
of  sin,  that  our  bodies  have  become  mortal — they  are  polluted 
and  defiled  in  all  their  members.  Hence  the  apostolick  cau- 
tion— "  Neither  yield  ye  your  members  as  instruments  of  un- 
righteousness unto  sin." 

Thus  you  perceive  that  the  corruption  of  our  whole  nature 
is  most  apparent;  that  it  is  impotent,  and  even  hostile,  to 
whatever  is  holy  or  spiritually  good,  and  strongly  inclined 
or  biassed  to  what  is  evil.  Of  unrenewed  man,  it  has  been 
as  true  in  every  age  of  the  world  as  it  was  before  the  flood, 
"  that  every  imagination  of  the  thoughts  of  his  heart  is  only 
evil  continually."  But  in  opposition  to  the  statement  you 
have  now  heard — to  the  doctrine  of  our  catechism,  and  to 
what  I  think  has  been  clearly  shown  to  be  the  doctrine  of 
scripture^ — there  are  those  who  contend  that  the  tendency  of 
our  nature  is  to  good,  rather  than  to  evil.  In  a  conversation 
I  once  had  with  an  individual  of  some  shrewdness,  who 
cherished  this  sentiment — the  sentiment  that  children,  from 
the  first,  incline  to  good  rather  than  to  evil — I  requested  him 
to  state  on  what  ground  he  supposed  that  he  could  support 
his  opinion.  He  affirmed  that  this  opinion  was,  with  him,  the 
result  of  personal  observation  on  his  own  children ;  who  he 
did  not  suppose  had  a  better  nature  than  others.  He  said, 
that  by  instructing  them  carefully  in  their  duty,  by  warning 
them  constantly  of  the  dangers  to  which  they  were  exposed, 
and  by  admonishing  them  faithfully  and  tenderly,  as  soon  as 
he  perceived  them  going  wrong,  and  by  restraining  them, 
while  they  were  unable  to  judge  for  themselves;  he  had  not 
failed  to  render  them  all,  examples  of  correct  behaviour  and 
amiable  deportment.  He  said  nothing  about  genuine  piety  in 
his  children;  and  I  fear  knew  nothing  about  it  in  his  own  ex- 
perience.    I  replied  to  him  thus — By  your  own  showing,  it 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  253 

required  your  vigorous  and  uninterrupted  efforts  to  preserve, 
or  to  recall  your  children  from  wrong  courses :  but  on  the 
supposition  that  the  tendencies  of  their  nature  were  to  virtue, 
rather  than  to  vice,  they  should  have  gone  right  without  any 
of  these  efforts ;  nay,  they  should  have  gone  right,  or  of  them- 
selves speedily  returned  to  what  was  right,  even  in  opposition 
to  endeavours  to  mislead  them.  The  man  concerned,  profess- 
ed to  be  convinced  of  his  error  at  once  ;  and  said  he  would  not 
argue  in  opposition  to  the  convictions  of  his  own  mind. 

But  alas!  how  often  is  it  seen,  that  all  the  good  instruc- 
tions, all  the  seasonable  advice  and  admonition,  and  all  the 
influence  of  the  best  example,  are  wholly  ineffectual,  to  form 
children  even  to  an  external  regard  to  the  laws  of  virtue, 
order  and  sobriety? — In  opposition  to  all,  how  frequently  do 
they  become  examples  of  flagitious  vice?  And  even  in  those 
instances  in  which,  by  the  Divine  blessing  on  a  good  educa- 
tion and  example,  operating  on  a  happy  natural  tempera- 
ment, the  young  are  formed  to  a  fair  and  amiable  exterior — 
how  often  is  it  evident,  that  they  have  still  no  inward  relish 
for,  but  an  utter  distaste  and  dislike  of,  all  serious  piety ,  all 
holy  exercises?  It  is  then  as  evident  from  experience  and 
observation  as  it  is  from  scripture,  that  the  tendencies  of  our 
nature  are  not  to  good,  but  uniformly  and  prevalently  to  evil. 
Indeed  I  am  of  the  opinion,  that  in  this,  as  in  almost  every 
other  instance,  an  accurate  observation  on  the  state  of  the 
world,  will  be  found  one  of  the  best  commentaries  on  the 
word  of  God. 

Whence,  but  from  the  natural  and  invariable  corruption  of 
the  human  mind,  has  proceeded  that  awful  preponderance  of 
moral  evil,  with  which  the  world  has  at  all  times  been  filled? 
The  tendencies  of  nature,  however  obstructed  by  incidental 
causes,  will  at  last  prevail.  If  these  tendencies  in  the  human 
mind  had  been  naturally  and  preponderantly  in  favour  of  vir- 
tue, there  would  have  been,  at  least  some  period,  in  which 
mankind  would  have  been  generally  or  prevalently  virtuous, 
pious  and  holy.  We  do  indeed  look  for  such  a  period,  but  we 
look  for  it  from  the  effusion  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  to  transform 


254  LECTURES  ON  THE 

the  minds  of  men,  and  not  from  their  melioration  by  any 
other  cause.  But  such  a  period  has  never  yet  been  witnessed. 
On  the  contrary,  what  is  the  history  of  the  human  kind?  It 
is  little  else  than  the  history  of  crime  and  guilt — of  war,  of 
fraud,  of  tyranny,  of  violence,  of  treachery,  of  oppression,  of 
the  means  which  one  man,  or  set  of  men,  have  used  to  exalt 
themselves,  by  depressing,  overreaching,  or  destroying  their 
competitors.  Nay,  what  are  almost  all  the  laws  of  society? 
Are  the}^  any  thing  but  guards  against  the  vices  of  men, 
which,  but  for  these  guards,  would  destroy  society  itself? 
Yes:  every  gaol,  and  every  gibbet,  and  every  law,  is  a  mo- 
nument, or  a  record,  of  the  prevalent  wickedness  of  man. 
Those  codes  of  laws  by  which  legislators  and  sages  have  im- 
mortalized themselves,  serve  to  show  how  difficult  it  has  been 
in  every  age,  to  guard  effectually  against  the  overwhelming 
torrent  of  human  depravity. 

I  shall  dismiss  this  topick,  with  a  few  remarks  on  the  proper 
import  of  the  phrase  total  dej)ravity ;  because  it  is  one  that 
you  often  hear  in  religious  discourse,  and  because  it  seems  to 
be  frequently  misunderstood.  It  may  be  useful,  I  think,  to 
state  the  import  of  tfiis  phrase,  both  positively  and  negative- 
ly. You  will  observe  then,  that  by  total  depravity,  we 
mean  that  all  the  human  powers  are  depraved  by  sin,  and 
that  every  individual  of  the  human  race,  in  his  natural  state, 
is  destitute  of  all  holiness:  but  we  do  not  mean  that  all  men 
are  sinful  in  the  same  degree  ;  much  less  that  every  man  is  as 
bad  as  he  can  be.  There  are  many  degrees  of  active  malig- 
nity, and  some  unsanctified  men  are  infinitely  worse  than 
others;  if  not  naturally,  yet  as  soon  almost  as  comparisons  can 
be  formed.  When  therefore  you  hear  the  expression  total 
depravity,  used  in  the  preaching  of  the  gospel,  or  meet  with 
it  in  the  writings  of  the  divines  of  our  church,  you  are  to  un- 
derstand by  it — 1.  That  all  the  powers  of  man,  without  ex- 
ception, have  been  reached  b}'  this  depravity ;  and  in  regard 
to  moral  subjects,  are  affected  by  it.  2.  That  this  depravity 
has  totally  deprived  man  of  that  inward  holy  disposition, 
jivhich  is  essentially  necessary  to  the  acceptable  service  of 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  255 

God;  so  that  this  holy  disposition  will  not  be  possessed  till 
it  be  restored  by  the  renewing  influence  of  Divine  grace. 
But  3.  That  it  is  by  no  means  to  be  understood  that  every 
unrenewed  man  is,  in  temper,  heart  and  disposition,  as  bad 
as  he  might  be,  or  as  some  actually  are.  On  the  contrary, 
there  is  in  many  unrenewed  men,  not  only  a  great  sensibility 
of  natural  conscience,  but  a  governing  regard  to  those  princi- 
ples of  equity,  justice,  humanity  and  benevolence,  which 
render  them  amiable  in  domestick  life,  and  highly  useful  and 
honourable,  as  members  of  political  society.  The  young  man 
who  came  to  our  Saviour,  to  inquire  his  duty,  had  such  qua- 
lities as  a  man,  that  the  Redeemer  looked  on  him  and  loved 
him;  yet  he  had  no  real  and  supreme  love  to  God,  but  on  the 
contrary,  was  supremely  attached  to  the  world.  And  hun- 
dreds and  thousands  of  the  same  character,  are  now  found 
under  the  light  of  the  gospel. 

Let  us  now  consider,  in  the  next  answer  of  our  catechism, 
the  lamentable  and  appalling  consequences  of  man's  apostacy 
from  God — "All  mankind,  by  their  fall,  lost  communion 
with  God,  are  under  his  wrath  and  curse,  and  so  made  liable 
to  all  the  miseries  of  this  life,  to  death  itself,  and  to  the  pains 
of  hell  for  ever." 

Awful  indeed,  my  young  friends,  is  the  description  here 
given,  of  the  condition  to  which  mankind  are  reduced  by  the 
fall.  But  since  the  description  is  as  just  as  it  is  awful,  let  us 
attend  to  it  carefully;  let  us  consider  it  most  seriously.  It  is 
by  such  attention  and  consideration,  that  we  shall  be  most 
likely  to  escape  ultimately,  from  the  misery  of  that  estate  into 
which  sin  has  brought  us. 

The  first  ingredient  of  this  misery  mentioned  in  the  an- 
swer we  consider,  is  the  loss  of  communion  ivith  God — a 
loss  and  a  misery  indeed!  Before  the  fall,  Adam  had  the 
most  delightful  intimacy,  the  most  pure  and  sublime  inter- 
course with  his  Maker,  in  the  uninterrupted  enjoyment  of  his 
gracious  presence.  Of  this  he  was  instantly  and  totally  de- 
prived by  the  fall.  He  feared  and  fled  from  the  presence  of 
his  God;  and  vainly  attempted  to  hide  himself  among  the 


256  LECTURES  ON  THE 

trees  of  the  garden.  From  that  unhappy  hour  till  the  present, 
man  in  his  natural  state  has  no  desire  after  communion  with 
his  Creator.  Indeed,  on  the  ground  of  the  covenant  of  works 
violated  by  sin,  he  is  not  permitted  to  approach  his  God  : 
and  though  a  new  way  of  approach  is  opened,  through  the 
covenant  of  grace  and  the  mediation  of  Christ,  yet  such  is  the 
awful  and  inveterate  aversion  of  man's  unrenewed  heart  to  all 
intercourse  with  a  holy  God,  that  he  constantly  refuses  it. 
The  very  recollection  of  the  Divine  presence  is  avoided,  as 
much  as  possible.  Hence  the  Psalmist's  character  of  the 
wicked — "  God  is  not  in  all  his  thoughts."  Now  this  disin- 
clination to  communion  with  God,  is  equally  the  misery  and 
the  guilt  of  man.  It  is  sensible  nearness  to  God,  and  holy  in- 
tercourse with  him,  which  constitutes  the  happiness  of  heaven, 
and  the  highest  pleasure  of  every  saint  on  earth.  But  to  all 
this,  every  unsanctified  sinner  is  a  total  stranger — Thus  does 
the  delirium  of  sin  render  him  hostile  even  to  his  own 
felicity. 

The  next  ingredient  of  the  misery  induced  by  sin,  which 
we  are  called  to  notice,  is — "  The  wrath  and  curse  of  God." 
God  is  said  in  scripture,  to  be  "  angry  with  the  wicked  every 
day."  It  is  also  declared  that  "  his  wrath  is  revealed  from 
heaven  against  all  unrighteousness  and  ungodliness  of  men;" 
that  "  he  who  believeth  not  is  condemned  already,  and  the 
wrath  of  God  abideth  on  him."  It  is  moreover  "  written, 
cursed  is  every  one  that  continueth  not  in  all  things  written 
in  the  book  of  the  law,  to  do  them."  This  is  indeed  very 
fearful  language.  Yet  let  us  remember  that  it  is  the  very 
language  of  the  unerring  oracles  of  God ;  and  that  it  describes 
the  infinitely  miserable  state  of  every  sinner,  till  he  is  recon- 
ciled to  God  by  Jesus  Christ.  Every  such  sinner,  careless 
and  gay  as  you  often  see  him,  goes  from  day  to  day  under  the 
curse  of  God's  broken  law,  and  with  the  divine  wrath  abiding 
on  him;  and  bound  over,  to  suffer  the  full  penalty  of  his 
transgressions  in  his  own  person,  so  long  as  he  continues  to 
reject  the  offered  Surety. 

The  next  clause  of  the  catechism   tells  us,  that  we  are 


SHORTER    CATECHISM.  257 

^*  made  liable  to  all  the  miseries  of  this  life."  These  mise- 
ries are  numerous  and  grievous,  but  too  obvious  to  need  to  be 
dwelt  on.  Alas!  who  can  tell  what  anguish  of  mind,  and 
what  torments  of  body,  any  individual  of  our  guilty  race  may 
suffer,  during  his  mortal  existence!-  All  mental  agony— all 
fear,  gloom,  melancholy,  horror,  and  black  despair,  all  bodily 
sicknesses  and  diseases,  all  famines  and  pestilences,  all  war  and 
devastation,  all  poverty  and  privation,  all  the  convulsions  of 
nature  which  precipitate  thousands  to  instant  and  inevitable 
death — 

"  When  earthquakes  swallow,  or  when  tempests  sweep, 
Towns  to.one  grave,  whole  nations  to  the  deep" — 

All  these  are  the  effects  of  sin.  It  is  sin  which  has  produced 
all  this  misery.  But  for  sin,  it  would  never  have  been  per- 
mitted to  exist  under  the  government  of  a  just  and  gracious 
God.  Such  indeed  has  been  the  misery  produced  by  sin, 
even  while  life  continues,  that  the  man  may  be  accounted  for- 
tunate who  does  not  suffer  more  than  the  pains  of  death  be- 
fore he  dies — Death  itself,  with  two  exceptions  only,  has 
been,  or  will  be,  the  lot  of  all  the  descendants  of  Adam,  till 
those  shall  be  changed  who  are  alive  at  the  sound  of  the  last 
trumpet.  Yet  to  the  wicked,  all  the  miseries  of  this  life,  and 
the  death  of  the  body  itself,  are  but  the  beginning  of  sorrows. 
After  death  they  suffer,  says  the  catechism,  "  the  pains  of 
hell  forever."  In  what  these  pains  will  consist  we  cannot 
fully  tell.  The  loss  of  all  happiness  and  all  hope;  exclusion 
from  God — total  and  final;  the  horrors  of  a  guilty  conscience; 
the  keenest  remorse  and  cutting  self  reproach,  will,  no  doubt, 
constitute  the  chief  ingredients.  The  punishment  of  hell  is 
represented  in  scripture  by  the  subjects  of  it  being  cast  into 
a  prison — into  the  bottomless  pit — into  outer  darkness,  where 
there  is  weeping  and  wailing  and  gnashing  of  teeth — into  a 
lake  of  fire  and  brimstone,  where  the  smoke  of  their  torment 
ascendeth  up  for  ever  and  ever;  by  the  worm  that  never  dies, 
and  the  fire  that  never  shall  be  quenched ;  by  the  second 
death;  and  by  the  blackness  of  darkness  for  ever.  These 
are  no  doubt  to  be  considered  as  figurative  expressions;  but, 

2k 


258  LECTURES  ON  THE 

my  young  friends,  they  are  figures  full  of  horror.  On  the 
question — whether  there  will  be  material  fire,  or  any  thing 
that  is  material  in  future  punishment? — I  do  not  think  that 
the  scripture  representations  are  decisive.  Let  us  only  be 
careful  not  to  flatter  ourselves,  in  the  sentiments  we  adopt  on 
this  point,  that  the  sufferings  of  lost  souls  will  receive  any 
abatement,  by  construing  as  figurative  the  language  of  inspi- 
ration; for  beyond  a  question,  the  sufferings  of  the  soul  itself 
are  in  their  nature  the  most  intolerable  of  all. 

What  relates  to  the  duration  of  future  punishment,  we 
have  no  reason  to  believe  is  figurative  or  hyperbolical — The 
punishment  is  certainly  represented  in  scripture,  as  strictly 
endless — literally  eternal.  This  is  so  evidently  the  doctrine 
of  scripture,  that  all  attempts  to  explain  it  away,  I  never  could 
consider  in  any  other  light,  than  as  utterly  impotent,  vain, 
and  nugatory.  Both  in  the  Old  Testament  and  in  the  New, 
the  happiness  of  the  righteous,  and  the  misery  of  the  wicked, 
are,  as  it  were,  weighed  against  each  other,  and  declared,  in 
point  of  duration,  to  be  equal;  so  that  you  must  deny  or  ad- 
mit  both— Here  is  the  proof— Dan.  xii.  2.  "  And  many  of 
them  that  sleep  in  the  dust  of  the  earth  shall  awake;  some  to 
everlasting  life,  and  some  to  shame,  and  everlasting  con- 
temptP  Mat.  xxv.  46.  "  And  these  shall  go  away  into 
everlasting  punishment,  but  the  righteous  into  life  eternalP 
In  this  last  passage,  our  translators,  to  vary  the  language, 
have  called  the  punishment  of  the  wicked  everlasting,  and 
the  life  of  the  righteous  eternal.  But  in  the  original  there 
is  no  such  variation — Precisely  the  same  word  is  used  in  both 
cases.  Literally  it  is — "  These  shall  go  away  into  eternal 
punishment,  and  the  righteous  into  eternal  life."  Here  you 
perceive,  the  word  of  God  has  contrasted  the  future  states  of 
the  righteous  and  the  wicked,  and  declared  that,  as  to  their 
duration,  they  are  equal.  None  doubt  that  the  rewards  of 
the  righteous  will  be  endless;  and  none,  therefore,  ought  to 
doubt,  that  the  punishment  of  the  wicked  will  be  endless  like- 
wise. Receive  this  solemn,  awful  truth,  my  young  friends, 
and  hold  it  fast.     That  the  disbelief  of  it  has  an  injurious 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  259 

practical  tendency,  there  can  be  no  reasonable  question.  If 
the  belief  of  endless  punishment  is  insufficient  fully  to  restrain 
the  guilty,  what  must  be  the  effect,  when  each  individual  is 
left  to  reduce  it  to  such  limits  as  his  own  self-flattery,  and  an 
inadequate  sense  of  guilt,  may  dictate.^  Surely  it  cannot  be 
the  calculation  of  any  rational  mind  to  seek  relief  from  fear, 
in  any  refuge  but  that  which  will  yield  a  full  security  against 
"  the  wrath  to  come."  Such  a  refuge,  and  such  only,  is  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ — "  Knowing  the  terrors  of  the  Lord,  we 
persuade  men"  to  hasten  their  flight  to  him.  To  him  there- 
fore— 0  to  him — betake  yourselves,  without  farther  delay! 
United  to  him,  you  will  be  safe  from  the  floods  of  intermina- 
ble perdition,  that  will  certainly  overwhelm  all  who  die  in 
that  state  of  sin  and  misery,  in  which  we  are  placed  by  the 
primitive  apostacy.  Grant,  0  most  merciful  God!  grant 
that  none  who  now  receive  this  warning,  may  neglect  the 
great  salvation,  till  the  door  of  mercy  be  forever  sh\}il  Amen. 


LECTURE  XIX. 

Bid  God  leave  all  Mankind  to  perish  in  the  state  of  sin  and 
misery? 

We  are  now  to  turn  our  view  from  the  ruin  to  the  redemp- 
tion of  man ;  from  the  covenant  of  works,  to  the  covenant  of 
grace.  It  is  the  twentieth  answer  of  the  catechism  which  in- 
troduces this  subject,  in  the  following  words — 

"  God  having,  out  of  his  mere  good  pleasure,  from  all  eter- 
nity, elected  some  to  everlasting  life,  did  enter  into  a  cove- 
nant of  grace,  to  deliver  them  out  of  the  estate  of  sin  and 
misery ;  and  to  bring  them  into  a  state  of  salvation  by  a  Re- 
deemer." 

In  treating  this  answer,  I  will  lead  you  to  consider — 

I.  The  fact  asserted,  that  some  of  the  fallen  human  race 


260  LECTURES  ON  THE 

were  chosen,  or  elected  by  God,  to  eternal  life;  while  some 
were  left  in  their  "estate  of  sin  and  misery." 

II.  That  this  election  is  to  be  attributed  solely  to  the  "good 
pleasure  of  God,"  as  its  cause. 

III.  That  the  election  made  was  "  from  all  eternity." 

IV.  That  a  covenant  of  grace  was  "  entered  into"  by  God 
the  Father  with  his  eternal  Son,  as  the  head  and  Redeemer  of 
the  elect  world. 

V.  That  by  Christ  all  his  people  "are  brought  out  of  a  state 
of  sin  and  misery,  into  a  state  of  salvation." 

You  are  not  to  expect  a  long  discussion  on  each  of  these 
points.  The  subject  of  the  decrees  of  God,  of  which  the  de- 
cree of  election  is  one,  has  heretofore  been  considered ;  and 
for  this  reason  the  less  needs  to  be  said  at  present — The  ge- 
neral argument  having  already  been  laid  before  you,  it  would 
be  superfluous  to  repeat  it.  My  chief  view  in  the  distribution 
1  have  made,  is  to  show  you  the  method  I  shall  follow  in 
speaking  to  the  answer  before  us;  and  thus  to  assist  your 
after  recollection  of  what  shall  be  said. 

I.  Sqine  of  the  human  race  were  chosen,  or  elected,  by 
God,  to  eternal  life;  while  some  were  left  in  their  "estate  of 
sin  and  misery."  This  is  a  doctrine  of  our  church,  which 
we  believe  is  explicitly  and  unequivocally  taught  in  scrip- 
ture ;  and  perfectly  consonant  with  reason  and  observation. 
Among  a  multitude  of  scripture  passages  which  might  be,  as 
they  often  have  been,  adduced  in  support  of  this  truth,  let 
the  following  suffice:  Ephes.  i.  4,  9,  II. — "According  as  he 
hath  chosen  us  in  him,  before  the  foundation  of  the  world, 
that  we  should  be  holy  and  without  blame  before  him  in 
love : — Having  made  known  unto  us  the  mystery  of  his  will, 
according  to  his  good  pleasure,  which  he  hath  jmrposed  in 
himself: — In  whom  also  we  have  obtained  an  inheritance, 
h^mg  predestinated,  according  to  the  j)urpose  of  him  luho 
worketh  all  things  after  the  counsel  of  his  own  tvill.'^ 
Rom.  viii.  30. — "  Moreover,  whom  he  did  predestinate, 
them  he  also  called;  and  whom  he  called,  them  he  also  jus- 
tified;   and   whom   he  justified,   them   he   also  glorified'- 


SHORTER    CATECHISM.  261 

2  Tim.  i.  9.—"  Who  hath  saved  ns,  and  called  zis  with  an 
holy  calling,  not  according  to  our  works,  but  according  to 
his  own  purpose  and  grace,  which  was  given  us  in  Christ 
Jesus,  be/ore  the  world  began,''     These  passages  of  scrip- 
ture, my  dear  youth,  are  not  perverted  from  the  scope  of  the 
context — as  is  too  often  done  in  quoting  scripture.     They  are 
quoted  in  their  genuine  spirit  and  meaning,  as  used  by  the 
inspired  writers.     And  if  they  do  not  clearly  tell  us,  that  all 
those  who  are  saved,  were  particularly  chosen  to  salvation  by 
God — while  others  were  not  so  chosen— I  do  not  know  how 
language  can  express  this  doctrine.     And  all  the  comments 
and  expositions  which  go  to  exclude  this  doctrine  from  scrip- 
ture, when  these  and  similar  passages  are  brought  into  view, 
appear  to  me — although  I  acquit  the  writers  of  a  design  to 
pervert  the  word  of  God — so  strained,  harsh,  and  unnatural, 
that  they  do,  in  fact,  confirm  the  doctrine  which  they  seek 
to  invalidate,  as  the  real  doctrine  of  inspiration.     They  show 
that  the  most  ingenious  glosses  cannot  make  the  oracles  of 
truth  plausibly  speak  another  language.     And  upon  what 
principle  of  reason  or  observation  is  this  doctrine  to  be  re- 
jected?    Men  do  not  seem  to  startle  at  it  so  much,  when  ap- 
plied to  the  angels.     Those  of  them  who  fell,  are  left  with- 
out a  Saviour  and  without  hope.     The  doctrine  of  election 
contemplates  all  mankind  as  sinners,  deserving  to  die.     If  all 
deserve  it,  God's  showing  mercy  to  some,  certainly  does  no 
injury  to   others — They  are   not  dealt  with   hardly.     And 
from  analogy,  we  have  every  reason  to  believe  that  as  many 
are  saved,  as  is  consistent  with  the  general  purposes  of  God's 
moral  government. 

II.  Our  second  point  is,  that  the  good  pleasure  of  God,  is 
the  only  assignable  ground  of  his  electing  some  of  the  human 
family  to  eternal  life.  Those  who  know  not  how  to  deny 
this  doctrine  as  a  part  of  scripture,  and  who  yet  want  a  solu- 
tion of  it  contrary,  as  we  believe,  to  scripture,  have  said  that 
God  foresaw  who  would  be  disposed  to  i*epent  and  believe, 
^nd  who  would  not ;  and  that  he  chose,  or  elected,  those  who, 
as  he  foresaw,  wouft  believe — and  left  the  rest. 


262  LECTURES  ON  THE 

But  here,  we  think,  is  a  complete  inversion  of  the  scrip- 
ture order  of  causes  and  effects.  In  almost  all  the  passages 
already  cited,  faith  and  other  holy  exercises  are  represented 
as  effects,  following  the  purpose  of  God,  and  not  as  the 
cause  of  that  purpose.  We  choose  therefore  to  refer  elec- 
tion wholly  to  the  sovereign  purpose  of  God,  operating  on 
sinners,  all  of  one  character  and  of  one  desert ;  and  to  say, 
"  even  so  Father,  for  so  it  seemed  good  in  thy  sight.'' 
The  sovereign  acts  of  God  are  always  infinitely  reasonable  in 
themselves ;  but  in  the  mean  time  they  proceed  on  reasons 
not  known  to  us. 

III.  The  choice  which  God  made  of  his  people  was  from 
eternity.  This  is  the  doctrine  of  scripture  in  the  cited  pas- 
sages :  And  it  is  equally  the  doctrine  of  reason.  It  is  con- 
trary to  the  perfection  of  the  divine  nature,  to  suppose  that 
the  Deity  has  a  succession  of  views  and  purposes.  "  He  is 
of  one  mind,  and  who  can  turn  him. — Known  unto  God  are 
all  his  works,  from  the  beginning  of  the  world."  And  to 
this  place  I  have  reserved  the  remark,  that  all  who  hold  the 
doctrine  of  efficacious  grace,  and  that  it  is  this  grace  alone  that 
makes  one  man  differ  from  another,  hold,  in  effect,  the  whole 
doctrine  of  election,  as  maintained  by  our  church.  Take  for 
illustration  a  common  case.  Here  are  two  persons,  under 
the  light  of  the  gospel,  who  enjoy  equally  the  means  of 
grace — The  one  becomes  pious ;  the  other  remains  destitute 
of  true  religion.  What  makes  them  differ?  You  say,  the 
grace  of  God-~he  gave  his  grace  to  one,  and  not  to  the 
other.  And  was  it  a  purpose  of  the  moment  in  the  Divine 
mind,  to  give  his  grace  to  one  and  not  to  the  other — a  new 
purpose  at  the  time  he  did  it?  Did  not  the  Deity  eternally 
purpose  and  know,  that  he  would  do  this  in  time?  You 
dare  not  deny  it.  If  you  do,  you  deny  the  foreknowledge 
and  perfection  of  God.  Here  then  is  the  whole  of  election 
which  we  hold — The  gift  of  efficacious  grace  in  time,  to 
those  on  whom  God  eternally  purposed  to  bestow  it. 

Or  will  you  say  that  he  gave  equal  grace  to  both;  but  the 
one  improved  it,  and  the  other  did  not.     For  the  sake  of  the 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  263 

argument,  let  this  for  a  moment  be  admitted.  But  then  I  ask 
— could  he  not  have  given  grace  that  certainl)'-  would  have 
been  effectual,  to  him  who  remains  without  religion?  You 
will  not  so  limit  God  and  his  grace,  as  to  say  he  could  not. 
But  he  actually  did  not.  He  left  the  person  in  question  with- 
out effectual  grace— rAnd  here  is  all  the  doctrine  of  reproba- 
tion which  we  hold. 

On  the  whole  then,  the  Calvinistick  doctrine  on  this  sub- 
ject is  no  more  terrifick,  or  hard  to  be  received,  than  that 
of  many  of  those  who  often  cry  out  against  it  and  revile  it. 
When  I  spoke  on  the  general  subject  of  predestination — of 
which,  as  I  have  already  remarked,  election  is  only'a  branch 
— I  inculcated  the  duty  of  receiving  truths,  on  sufficient  evi- 
dence, which  in  theory  we  know  not  how  exactly  to  recon- 
cile and  bring  together.  I  showed  you  that  we  do  this  with- 
out hesitation  in  regard  to  other  subjects,  and  that  we  ought 
therefore,  in  all  reason,  to  do  it  also  in  religion.  If  any  of 
you  pervert  this  doctrine  of  election,  so  as  to  neglect  the 
means  of  grace,  or  so  as  to  keep  you  from  acting  as  fully  in 
the  matter  of  your  salvation  like  accountable  creatures,  as  you 
would  act  if  you  did  not  believe  it — nay,  if  you  permit  it  to 
discourage  you,  and  not  rather  to  encourage  you — then  you  will 
treat  it  as  those  do  not  treat  it,  who  hold  it  most  firmly  and 
understandingly;  and  as  the  standards  of  our  church  warn 
you  not  to  treat  it.  Leave  the  inquiry  how  the  plan  and 
purpose  of  God  in  this,  as  in  all  other  things,— and  in  no  re- 
spect more  in  this  than  in  other  things, — is  to  be  reconciled 
with  the  freedom  of  moral  agents,  and  the  influence  of  se- 
cond causes.  They  are  undoubtedly,  reconcilable,  for  they 
are  both  truths;  but  to  discover  and  explain  how  these  truths 
exactly  coincide,  is  probably  beyond  the  human  powers  in 
the  present  state.  Do  obvious  duty,  and  use  appointed  means; 
and  if  you  become  interested  personally  in  the  covenant 
of  grace,  by  accepting  the  Saviour,  then  you  may  find  that 
this  very  doctrine,  so  far  from  being  offensive,  is  full  of 
sweetness  and  comfort. 

We  now  proceed  to  consider — 


264  LECTURES  ON  THE 

IV.  That  a  covenant  of  grace  was  made  by  God  the 
Father  with  his  eternal  Son,  as  the  head  and  Redeemer  of 
the  elect  world.  This,  according  to  a  passage  already  quoted, 
was  before  the  birth  of  time;  before  men  or  angels  were 
formed— even  from  everlasting.  Then,  in  foresight  that 
man  when  created  would  fall — in  the  council  of  peace  be- 
tween the  Father  and  the  Son — a  number  of  our  race,  consi- 
dered as  fallen  sinners,  were  chosen  in  Christ,  or  were  given 
to  the  Son,  to  be  redeemed  by  him — he  voluntarily,  choosing 
to  undertake  the  whole  work  of  redemption  in  their  behalf. 

This  topick  is  so  well  explained  and  so  accurately  expressed 
by  Witsius,  in  his  justly  celebrated  work  called  The  Econo- 
my of  the  Covenants,  that  I  will  give  you  a  general  view  of 
it,  in  some  extracts  from  the  English  translation  of  that  mas- 
terly treatise. 

^^  If  any  thing  ought  to  be  accounted  worthy  of  our  most 
attentive  consideration,  certainly  it  is  the  covenant  of  grace, 
of  which  we  now  attempt  to  treat.  Here  the  way  is  pointed 
out  to  a  paradise  far  preferable  to  the  earthly,  and  to  a  more 
certain  and  stable  felicity  than  that  from  which  Adam  fell. 
Here  a  new  hope  shines  upon  ruined  mortals,  which  ought  to 
be  the  more  acceptable,  the  more  unexpectedly  it  comes.  Here 
conditions  are  offered,  to  which  eternal  salvation  is  annexed: 
conditions,  not  to  be  performed  again  by  us,  which  might 
throw  the  mind  into  despondency;  but  by  him  who  would 
not  part  with  his  life  before  he  had  truly  said.  It  is  finished. 
Here,  with  the  brightest  splendour,  shine  forth  the  wonder- 
ful perfections  of  our  God  ;  his  wisdom,  power,  truth,  jus- 
tice, holiness,  goodness,  philanthropy,  or  good-will  to  man, 
mercy — and  what  tongue  can  rehearse  them  all  ?  never  be- 
fore displayed  on  a  more  august  theatre,  to  the  admiration  of 
all  who  behold  them.  Whoever  therefore  loves  his  own  sal- 
vation, whoever  desires  to  delight  himself  in  the  contempla- 
tion of  the  divine  perfections,  must  come  hither,  and  deeply 
engage  in  holy  meditations  on  the  covenant  of  grace:  which 
I  think  may  not  improperly  be  thus  defined — 

•*  The  covenant  of  grace  is  an  agreement  between  God 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  265 

and  the  elect  sinner;  God^  declaring  his  free  good- will  con- 
cerning eternal  salvation,  and  every  thing  relative  thereto, 
freely  to  be  given  to  those  in  covenant,  by  and  for  the  sake 
of  the  Mediator  Christ;  and  man  consenting  to  that  good- 
will by  a  sincere  faith. 

"  That  the  nature  of  the  covenant  of  grace  may  be  the 
more  thorough!}-  understood,  two  things  are  above  all  to  be 
'distinctly  considered.  1.  The  compact  which  intervenes  be- 
tween God  the  Father,  and  Christ  the  Mediator.  2.  That 
testamentary  disposition,  by  which  God  bestows,  hy  an  im- 
mutable covenant,  eternal  salvation,  and  every  thing  rela- 
tive thereto,  upon  the  elect.  The  former  agreement  is  be- 
tween God  and  the  Mediator;  the  latter  between  God  and 
the  elect.  This  last  presupposes  the  first,  and  is  founded 
upon  it. 

"  When  I  speak  of  the  compact  between  the  Father  and  the 
Son,  I  thereby  understand  the  will  of  the  Father,  giving  the 
So7i,  to  be  the  Head  and  Redeemer  of  the  elect;  and  the  will 
of  the  Son  presenting  himself  as  a  Sponsor  or  surety  for 
them;  in  all  which  the  nature  of  a  compact  and  agreement  con- 
sists. The  scripture  represents  the  Father,  in  the  economy 
of  our  salvation,  as  demanding  the  obedience  of  the  Son  even 
unto  death;  and  for  it  promising  him  that  name,  which  is 
above  every  name,  even  that  he  should  be  the  head  of  the 
elect  in  glory:  but  the  Son,  zs presenting  himself  Xo  do  the 
will  of  the  Father,  acquiescing  in  ihdit  promise,  and  in  fine, 

requiring  the  kingdom  and  glory  promised  to  him. 

****** 

*'  Christ  himself  speaks  of  this  compact  in  express  words.* 

I  engage  by  covenant  unto  you  a  kingdoin,  as  m,y  Father 
hath  engaged  by  covenant  unto  me.  In  which  words  the 
Lord  Jesus  says,  that  by  virtue  of  some  covenant  or  disposi- 
tion, he  obtains  a  kingdom,  as  we  also  obtain  it  by  virtue  of 
the  same. 

"  And  Heb.  vii.  22,  where  he  is  said  to  be  x^e/rrovas  ^ia.hy'V^<i 

*  Luke  xxii.  29. 
2  L 


266  LECTURES  ON  THE 

fyyy«5,  CI  Surety  of  a  better  covenant  or  testament.  But  he 
is  called  the  Surety  of  a  testament,  not  principally  on  this  ac- 
count, because  he  engages  to  us  for  God  and  his  promises,  or 
because  he  engages /or  us  that  we  shall  obey ;  as  Moses  in- 
tervened as  a  surety  between  God  and  the  Israelites.*  For 
by  how  much  Christ  was  greater  than  Moses,  in  so  much  he 
was  also  a  surety  in  a  more  excellent  manner.  His  suretiship 
consists  in  this,  that  he  took  upon  himself  to  perform  that' 
condition.,  without  which,  consistently  with  the  justice  of 
God,  the  grace  and  promises  of  God  could  not  reach  unto  us; 
and  which  being  performed,  they  were  infallibly  to  come  to 
the  children  of  the  covenant.  Unless  then  we  would  make 
void  the  suretiship  of  Christ,  and  gratify  the  Socinians,  the 
very  worst  perverters  of  the  scripture,  it  is  necessary  we 
conceive  of  some  covenant,  the  conditions  of  which  Christ 
took  upon  himself;  engaging  in  our  name  with  the  Father,  to 
perform  them  for  us ;  and  which,  having  performed,  he  might 
engage  to  us  for  the  Father,  concerning  grace  and  glory  to  be 
bestowed  upon  us. 

"  Moreover,!  Paul  mentions  a  certain  ^tetStjKtiVj  covenant, 
or  testament,  that  was  confirmed  before  q/  God  in  Christ. 
Where  the  contracting  parties  are  on  one  side  God,  on  the 
other  Christ ;  and  the  agreement  between  both  is  ratified. 
But  lest  any  should  think,  that  Christ  is  here  only  consider- 
ed as  the  executioner  of  the  testament  bequeathed  to  us  by 
God,  the  apostle  twice  repeats,  that  Christ  was  not  promised 
to  us,  or  that  salvation  was  not  promised  to  us  through 
Christ,  though  that  be  also  true;  but  that  the  promises  were 
made  to  Christ  himself. X  That  Christ  was  that  seed, 
*6>  evviyyexruii  to  wMch  he  had  promised,  or  to  which  the  pro- 
raise  was  made;  namely,  concerning  the  inheritance  of  the 
world,  and.  the  kingdom  of  grace  and  glory.  It  is  evident 
therefore,  that  the  word  ^la-hy-yi  does  here  denote  some  cove- 
nant or  testam,ent,  by  which  something  is  promised  by  God 
to  Christ.     Nor  do  I  see  wh^t  can  be  objected  to  this,  unless 

*  Exod.  xix.  3— 8v  t  Gal.  iii.  17.  %  Gal.  iii.  \% 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  Ogy 

by  Christ  any  one  should  understand  Ihe  Aearf,  together  with 
the  mystical  body,  which  with  Christ  is  that  one  seed,  to 
which  the  promises  are  made.  This  indeed  we  shall  very 
readily  admit,  if  it  also  be  admitted  that  Christ,  who  is  the 
head,  and  eminently  the  seed  of  Abraham,  be  on  no  account 
excluded  from  these  promises,  especially  as  the  promises 
made  to  his  mystical  body,  ou2;ht  to  be  considered  as  made 
also  to  himself;  since  he  himself  too  hath  received  gifts  for 
\in~\  men,* 

"Nor  ought  those  places  to  be  omitted,  in  which  explicit 
mention  is  made  of  the  suretiship  of  Christ;  as  Psal.  cxix. 
122.  Be  surety  for  thy  servant  for  good;  that  is,  as  surety 
receive  him  into  thy  protection,  that  it  may  be  well  with 
him.  .  In  like  manner,  Is.  xxxviii.  14.  1  am  oppressed,  un- 
dertake for  me  ;  be  to  me  a  surety  and  patron.  And  that 
none  but  Christ  alone  could  thus  undertake,  God  himself  says, 
Jer.  XXX.  21.  Who  is  this  that  engaged  [m]  his  heart,  or 
quieted  his  heart  by  his  suretiship,  or  sweetened  his  hearty 
by  a  voluntary  and  fiducial  engagement,  or,  in  ^nt,  pledged 
his  very  hearty  giving  his  soul  as  both  the  matter  and  price 
of  suretiship  (for  all  these  are  comprised  in  the  emphasis  of  the 
Hebrew  language)  to  approach  unto  me,  that  he  may  expiate 
sin?  These  words  also  point  out  what  that  suretiship  or  un- 
dertaking was,  which  David  and  Hezekiah  sought  for;  name- 
ly, a  declaration  of  will  to  approach  unto  God,  in  order  to 
procure  the  expiation  of  sins. 

"In  fine,  we  may  refer  to  this  point,  what  is  to  be  found, 
Zech.  vi.  13.  The  counsel  of  peace  shall  be  between  them 
hoth  ;  namely,  between  the  man,  whose  name  is  the  Branchy 
and  Jehovah  :  for  no  other  pair  occur  here. 

*  *  -;^  *  *  *-  *  *  *  * 

"  I  consider  three  periods,  as  it  were,  of  this  compact.  Its 
commencement  is  to  be  sought  in  the  eternal  counsel  of  the 
adorable  Trinity ;  in  which  the  Son  of  God  was  constituted 
by  the  Father,  with  the  approbation  oi  the  Holy  Spirit.  <he 
Saviour  of  mankind,  on  thi«  condi'ion,  that  in  the  fulness  of 

'^  Psalm,  Ixviii.  \^. 


268  LECTURES  ON  THE 

time,  he  should  be  made  of  a  woman,  and  made  under  the 
law;  which  the  Son  undertook  to  perform.  Peter  has  a 
view  to  this  when  he  says,*  that  Christ  was  foreordained  be- 
fore the  foundation  of  the  world.  To  this  purpose  is  also, 
what  the  Supreme  Wisdom  testifies  concerning  itself,!  I  was 
set  up  [anointed] y7'0W2  everlasting ;  that  is,  by  my  own  and 
the  will  of  my  Father,  which  is  one  and  the  same,  I  was  ap- 
pointed to  the  performance  of  the  mediatorial  office  in  time. 
Paul  likewise  dechires,  that  we  were  chosen  in  Christ  before 
the  foundation  of  the  world.X  Consequently,  Christ  him- 
self was  constituted  from  everlasting,  the  head  of  those  that 
were  to  be  saved  and  they  were  given  unto  him,^  for  whom 
he  was  to  merit  salvation,  and  in  whom  he  was  to  be  glorified 
and  admired.  From  this  constitution,  the  Son  from  everlast- 
ing bore  a  peculiar  relation  to  those  that  were  to  be  saved. 
Hence  the  book  of  life  is,  by  a  special  appropriation,  ascribed 
to  the  Lamb^W  as  containing  a  description  of  the  peculiar  peo- 
ple assigned  to  the  Lamb  from  all  eternity.  Hence  also  it 
was,  that  God,  in  his  amazing  wisdom,  so  ordered  many 
things  in  man's  state  of  innocence,  that  the  attentive  remem- 
brance of  them  after  the  fall,  and  the  comparing  them  with 
those  things  which  were  afterwards  revealed,  might  have  re- 
minded man  of  this  divine  counsel. 

"  The  second  period  of  this  covenant  I  place  in  that  inter- 
cession of  Christ,  by  which,  immediately  upon  the  fall  of 
man,  he  offered  himself  to  God,  now  offended  by  sin,  actu- 
ally to  peform  those  things,  to  which  he  had  engaged  himself 
from  eternity  ;  saying,  Thou  hast  given  them  to  me,  I  will 
make  satisfaction  for  them :  and  so  making  way  for  the  word 
of  grace  to  be  declared  to,  and  the  covenant  of  grace  to  be 
made  with  them.  Thus  Christ  was  actually  constituted  Me- 
diator and  declared  diS  such  immediately  after  the  fall;  and 
having  undertaken  the  suretiship,  he  began  to  act  many 
things  belonging  to  the  offices  of  a  Mediator.  As  a  Prophet, 
and  the  interpreter  of  the  divine  will,  he  even  then,  by  his 

*  1  Pet.  i.  20.  t  1  Prov.  viii.  23.  t  Eph.  i.  4. 

§  John  xvii.  6.  1|  Rev.  xiii.  8. 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  269 

Spirit  revealed  those  thinsjs  which  relate  to  the  salvation  of 
the  elect,  and  by  his  ministers  published  them.*  Nay,  he 
himself  sometimes  appeared  in  the  character  of  an  angel,  in- 
structing; his  people  in  the  counsel  of  God.  As  a  kinsr^  he 
gathered  his  church,  and  formed  to  himself  a  people,  in  whom 
he  mij2;ht  rei^n  by  his  word  and  spirit.  For  it  was  the  Son 
of  God,  who  said  to  Israel,  Exod.  xix.  6,  Ye  shall  be  unto 
me  a  kingdom  of  priests,  and  who,  with  more  than  7'oyal 
pomp,  published  his  law  on  mount  Sinai,^  and  whom  Isaiah 
saw  sittin<i;  as  king  upon  a  throne.X  As  a  Priest,  he  took 
upon  himself  the  sins  of  the  elect,  to  be  expiated  by  the  sa- 
crifceoC  his  body,  whicli  was  to  be  fitted  for  him  in  the  fulness 
of  time.  In  virtue  of  this,  as  being;  a  faithful  surety,  he  like- 
wise interceded  for  the  elect,  by  declaring;  his  will,  that  they 
mig^ht  be  taken  into  favour,  saying,  Deliver  them  from  going 
down  to  the  pit,  I  have  found  Xvr^cv,  a  ransom.^  For  what 
angel  could  speak  thus,  but  the  angel  of  the  covenant  ?  who 
even  then  was  called  an  angel,  before  his  coming;  in  the  flesh, 
because  he  was  accomplishing  what  depended  upon  that  future 
mission. 

"  The  third  period  of  this  compact  is  that,  when  on  his 
assuming  human  nature,  he  suffered  his  ears  to  be  bored ;\ 
that  is,  engaged  himself  as  a  voluntary  servant  to  God,  from 
love  to  his  Lord  the  Father,  and  to  his  spouse  the  church, 
and  his  spiritual  children  (for  the  ears  of  such  voluntary  ser- 
vants were  bored  ;)1F  yeveftevog  v-xq  vof^ov,  was  m,ade  tinder  the 
law,^*  subjecting  himself  to  the  law:  which  he  solemnly 
testified  by  his  circumcisiofi,  on  the  eig;hth  day  after  his 
birth,  v»rhereby  he  made  himself  a  debtor  to  do  the  whole 
lawr\^  ' 

Thus  it  clearly  appears,  that  there  was  a  covenant  between 
the  Father  and  the  Son,  in  which  he  undertook  to  be,  in  all 


*  Isa.  xlviii.  15.     1  Pet.  i.  11.  and  iii.  19.  t  Acts  vii.  38. 

X  Chap  vi.  compared  with  J  hn  xii.  41.  §  Job  xxxiri.  24. 

II  Compare  Psal-n  xl.  7.  with  Heb.  x.  5.  IT  Exod.  xxi.  5,  G. 

**  Gal.  iv.  4.  tt  Gal.  iii.  3. 


270  LECTURES  ON  THE 

the  extent  of  the  word,  a  Redeemer  of  the  people  who,  in 
that  covenant,  were  given  to  him. 

It  only  remains  to  remark, 

V.  That  by  Christ  all  his  people  are  actually  brought  out 
of  a  state  of  sin  and  misery,  into  a  state  of  salvation. 

You  will  not  understand  that  I  now  propose  to  go  into  a 
particular  explanation  how  this  is  done.  A  large  part  of  the 
subsequent  answers  in  the  Catechism  is  employed  in  explain- 
ing these  topicks,  and  to  anticipate  them  would  produce  con- 
fusion. Let  us  then  only  dwell  for  a  few  moments  on  the 
fact,  that  Christ  Jesus,  the  eternal  Son  of  God,  is  the  great 
agent  in  the  work  of  our  redemption,  and  that  he  has  per- 
fected it  in  behalf  of  his  people. 

In  virtue  of  his  undertaking  for  them,  he  is  made  "head 
over  all  things  to  the  church,  which  is  his  body."  There 
is  no  gift  of  grace  or  glory  bestowed  on  the  church,  or  on 
any  individual  member,  but  it  is,  as  it  were,  first  given  to 
Christ,  and  then  comes  to  the  believer  from  him — "  Of  his 
fulness  have  we  all  received,  and  grace  for  grace."  It  was 
for  this  purpose  that  "  it  pleased  the  Father  that  in  him 
should  all  fulness  dwell."  As  the  people  of  Christ  are  given 
to  him,  and  he  gave  himself  for  them,  it  is  infinitely  fit  and 
reasonable,  that  they  should  receive  all  immediately  from 
him.  And  this  is  calculated  unspeakably  to  encourage  and 
comfort  them,  while  they  are  permitted  and  required  to  look 
for  all  that  they  need,  from  the  hands  of  their  kinsman  Re- 
deemer, who  has  identified  himself  with  them:  and  they  also 
hence  receive  every  possible  assurance  that  the  work  of  their 
redemption  and  salvation  has  been  fully  wrought  out  for  them, 
shall  be  effectually  wrought  in  them,  and  shall  be  completed 
in  eternal  glory  and  felicity; — because  the  whole  has  been 
engaged  for  by  God's  eternal  Son,  whom  no  enemy  can  resist 
or  disappoint. 

The  efficacy  of  this  work  of  Christ,  was  just  as  great,  al- 
though not  so  clearly  revealed,  before  his  coming  in  the  flesh 
as  afterwards.  It  is  the  prerogative  of  God,  to  call  things  that 
are  not  as  though  they  were.    Christ  was  "  the  Iamb  slain  from 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  271 

the  foundation  of  the  world."  The  efficacy  of  his  under- 
taking and  atonement,  was  coeval  with  the  fall  of  man.  He 
was  promised  to  our  first  parerjts  as  "the  seed  of  the  woman 
who  should  bruise  the  serpent's  head."  His  character  and 
his  atonement  were  shadowed  forth  under  the  Mosaick  dis- 
pensation, by  a  variety  of  symbols  and  sacrifices — These  all 
pointed  to  Christ  and  his  sacrifice;  for  the  apostle  expressly 
declares,  "  they  were  a  shadow  of  good  things  to  come,  but 
the  body  was  of  Christ."  To  Christ,  therefore,  all  who  are 
saved,  the  ancient  and  the  modern,  the  Jew  and  the  Gentile, 
the  infant  and  the  aged,  owe  entirely  and  equally,  their  re- 
demption and  their  eternal  inheritance. 

Two  short  reflections  on  what  you  have  heard,  shall  close 
this  lecture. 

1.  Reflect  on  the  self-moved  goodness,  mercy  and  conde- 
scension of  God,  in  the  covenant  of  grace.  On  this  let  me 
counsel  you  to  dwell  in  your  meditations,  more — far  more— 
than  on  the  inscrutable  decrees  of  Jehovah.  To  Him^  those 
decrees — those  "secret  things — belong;"  while  to  w<y,  it  be- 
longs to  wonder,  admire,  adore  and  love,  in  attentively  con- 
templating the  "  revealed"  truth,  that  "  God  so  loved  the 
world,  that  he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever 
believeth  in  him  should  not  perish  but  have  everlasting  life. 
For  God  sent  not  his  Son  into  the  world  to  condemn  the 
world,  but  that  the  world  through  him  might  be  saved."  Re- 
member, I  repeat  it,  that  this  is  plain  revealed  truth;  in  which 
the  benignity  of  God,  manifested  to  our  world,  is  exhibited 
as  inconceivably  great.  He  "  so  loved  the  world,"  that  "  he 
spared  not  his  own  Son,  but  delivered  him  up  for  us  all;" 
and  this  when  we  were  hardened  and  unrelenting  rebels 
against  Himself.  This  is  indeed  benevolence,  compassion, 
and  a  stoop  of  mercy,  without  any  parallel — without  any 
thing  to  which  we  can  even  resemble  it.  Those  who  oppose 
our  sentiments,  often  represent  us  as  exhibiting  the  ever 
blessed  God  as  an  arbitrary,  inexorable,  and  vindictive  Being 
— Nothing  can  be  farther  from  the  truth.  We  do  indeed 
plead  for  all  the  Divine  attributes,  and  are  careful  not  to  deny 


272  LECTURES  ON  THE 

one  in  order  to  establish  another.  Hence  we  maintain  the 
perfect  forekno\vledg;e  and  entire  sovereignty  of  God,  that  we 
may  not  impeach  his  wisdom,  nor  derogate  from  his  supreme 
disposing  power.  But  at  the  same  time,  we  maintain  the  infi- 
nite goodness  of  God.  We  believe  with  the  apostle  John, 
that  "  God  is  love."  We  represent  this  love  as  the  first 
spring  and  source  of  the  whole  plan  and  work  of  redemption 
— that  it  was  the  inconceivable  love  of  God  that  provided  the 
Saviour,  and  "gave  him  up,"  to  all  that  he  endured  in  the 
work  of  our  redemption.  If  our  opponents  will  represent  this 
part  of  our  system  as  inconsistent  with  the  other — we  will 
ever  deny  it ;  and  reply,  that  is  your  consequence,  not  ours. 
We  believe,  and  so  do  you,  that  many  of  the  ways  of  God  are 
unsearchable.  We  believe  that  the  things  in  question  are  per- 
fectly reconcilable,  although  for  the  present  we  cannot  tell  how. 
We  believe,  from  the  word  of  God  and  the  dictates  of  reason, 
facts  and  truths  which  we  cannot  fully  reconcile.  But  we  will 
not  deny  any  of  the  facts  or  truths,  because  we  cannot  show 
exactly  how  they  quadrate  with  each  other.  But  on  the  fact 
that  God  is  love,  and  the  fountain  of  all  goodness,  grace,  and 
mercy,  it  is  our  delight  to  dwell.  We  love  to  contemplate  it 
by  itself;  yea,  we  love  to  inculcate  it,  till  our  own  minds,  and 
the  minds  of  those  we  address,  are  filled  with  admiration,  and 
glow  with  gratitude  and  afiection,  to  the  infinitely  best  as 
well  as  greatest  of  all  beings. 

2.  Reflect  on  our  infinite  and  endearing  obligations  to  the 
Saviour.  When  "  there  was  none  to  help — none  to  uphold," 
then  he  said,  *^  Lo,  I  come  to  do  thy  will,  0  God."  But  for 
this  intervention  of  the  Saviour  in  our  behalf — an  interven- 
tion which  was  perfectly  voluntary  on  his  part,  and  to  which 
he  was  under  no  obligation — but  for  this,  the  whole  race  of 
man,  like  the  whole  host  of  rebel  angels,  must  have  pe- 
rished without  remedy  and  without  hope.  What  mortal  can 
think  of  this,  and  not  feel  that  his  obligations  to  the  Saviour 
are  beyond  all  expression  !  But  especially,  when  we  consider 
the  astonishing  price  of  our  redemption,  and  that  the  Saviour 
had  a  clear  and  perfect  foresight  of  it — a  perfect  foresight  of 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  273 

the  ineffable  humiliation,  sufferings  and  death,  that  would  be 
indispensable  in  executing  the  undertaking  for  which  he  made 
himself  responsible,  and  yet  that  he  cheerfully  assumed  it,  and 
steadily  persisted  till  he  had  fully  performed  it — what  tongue 
of  men  or  angels,  will  ever  be  able  to  utter  his  love  and  com- 
passion, or  the  endearing  obligations  which  bind  redeemed 
sinners  to  their  great  Deliverer!  This  doubtless  will  be  a 
theme  for  the  songs  and  harps  of  saints  and  angels,  while  the 
eternal  bliss  of  heaven  shall  endure.  And  0 !  how  hard,  my 
dear  youth,  must  be  that  human  heart,  how  lost  to  every 
worthy  sentiment,  how  base,  how  vile,  which  feels  nothing — 
glows  not,  melts  not,  moves  not  with  one  pulse  of  gratitude 
and  love — when  this  unutterable  goodness,  kindness,  and  com- 
passion of  the  Saviour,  is  made  the  subject  of  contemplation! 
Is  such  the  state  of  any  heart  in  this  assembly?  If  it  be,  how 
great  must  be  the  change  wrought  upon  it,  before  it  can  be 
reconciled  to  God !  May  every  such  heart  be  shocked,  and 
humbled,  and  tremble,  at  its  vileness — may  it  be  broken  and 
bleed,  that  it  may  at  length  be  healed  by  the  application  of 
the  atoning  blood  of  Christ. — Amen. 


LECTURE  XX. 

Who  is  the  Redeemer  of  God's  elect? 

How  did  Christ  the  Son  of  God  become  man. 

We  now  proceed  to  consider  the  21st  and  22d  answers  of 
our  catechism. 

"The  only  Redeemer  of  God's  elect  is  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  who  being  the  eternal  Son  of  God,  became  man,  and 
so  was,  and  continues  to  be,  God  and  man,  in  two  distinct 
natures,  and  one  person  for  ever— Christ  the  Son  of  God,  be- 
came man,  by  taking  to  himself  a  true  body  and  a  reasonable 
soul,  being  conceived,  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  m 

2  M 


274  LECTURES  ON  THE 

the  womb  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  born  of  her,  and  yet  without 
sin.'' 

In  discussing  these  answers  it  will,  I  think,  afford  as  pro- 
per a  method  as  any  other,  and  the  easiest  to  be  remembered, 
if  we  take  certain  separate  portions  of  the  answers  severally, 
and  where  necessary,  connect  those  of  the  first  with  those  of 
the  second.     In  pursuance  of  this  method,  let  us 

I.  Consider  that  the  only  Redeemer  of  God's  elect  is  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

You  ought  to  know  that  the  words  Jesus  Christ,  although 
now  used  as  a  common  appellation,  were  not  given  arbitra- 
rily. They  are,  and  were  intended  to  be,  descriptive  of  the 
character  of  our  blessed  Redeemer.  Jesus,  or  Joshua,  (for 
they  are  the  same  name  in  the  original  of  the  Scriptures,)  de- 
notes a  Saviour,  in  the  most  peculiar  and  extensive  sense  of 
the  term.  Thus  it  was  said — "  thou  shalt  call  his  name 
Jesus,  for  he  shall  save  his  people  from  their  sins."  The 
term  Christ  in  Greek,  is  exactly  of  the  same  import  with 
Messiah  in  Hebrew.  Each  word,  in  its  proper  language, 
signifies  anointed,  or  the  anointed  one.  When  therefore 
Peter  said — "  Thou  art  the  Christ  of  God,^^  it  was  the  same 
as  if  he  had  said,  thou  art  the  anointed  of  God.  Among  the 
ancient  Jews,  kings,  prophets  and  priests,  were  set  apart  to 
their  ofiice  by  anointing  them  with  oil.  Now  Christ  as  medi- 
ator, united  all  these  characters  in  himself,  and  is  represented 
as  set  apart  to  them  by  the  designation  of  God — So  that  the 
words  Jesus  Christ  mean  the  Saviour,  anointed,  or  set  apart 
to  that  office,  by  God. 

Jesus  Christ  is  "  the  only  Redeemer  of  God's  elect."  The 
Jews  are  yet  looking  for  a  Messiah  to  come.  They  will  not 
allow  that  Jesus  Christ  was  the  true  Messiah.  But  this  is 
only  a  proof  of  their  judicial  blindness  and  hardness  of  heart; 
and  is  indeed  the  strongest  proof  that  could  possibly  be  given  : 
For  the  character,  actions  and  sufferings  of  our  Saviour,  are 
so  exactly  delineated  and  described  by  their  own  inspired  pro- 
phets, that  they  are  driven  to  the  most  unworthy  shifts  and 
evasions,  to  avoid  admitting  and  allowing  it.  The  prophecy 
in  the  53d  chapter  of  Isaiah,  is  more  like  a  history  than  a 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  275 

prediction:  So  much  so  indeed,  that  some  of  the  early  ene- 
mies of  Christianity,  insisted  that  it  must  have  been  forged, 
after  the  events  to  which  it  manifestly  refers  had  taken  place. 
But  its  reception  all  along  by  the  Jews  themselves,  shows  that 
the  infidel  objection  is  false;  and  thus  one  class  of  unbe- 
lievers is  made  to  answer  and  confound  another. 

The  prophecy  of  Daniel  points  so  exactly  to  the  time  in 
which  Jesus  Christ  did  appear,  that  there  could  be  no  mistak- 
ing it  as  the  epoch  of  the  Messiah's  advent :  And  it  is  a  fact, 
as  well  ascertained  as  any  in  ancient  history,  that  the  whole 
Jewish  nation,  and  even  some  among  the  neighbouring  na- 
tions, were  in  full  and  earnest  expectation  of  the  Messiah  at 
that  very  time — At  that  very  time  accordingly,  the  true  and 
only  Messiah,  Jesus  Christ,  the  anointed  Saviour,  did  actually 
appear;  and  the  expectation  of  another  by  the  unhappy  Jews, 
must  forever  be  vain.  But  it  is  comfortable  to  think  that 
their  delusion  will  come  to  an  end;  and  that  when  the  fulness 
of  the  Gentiles  shall  be  brought  in,  they  too  shall  yet  ac- 
knowledge and  obtain  salvation,  by  that  Jesus  whom  their 
fathers  crucified,  and  whom  they  have  so  long  and  so  wicked- 
ly rejected  and  blasphemed. — "  There  is  salvation  in  no 
other,  for  there  is  no  other  name  under  heaven,  given  among 
men,  whereby  we  must  be  saved." 

In  the  answers  we  consider,  Jesus  Christ  is  called  "  The 
Lord."  He  is  so  called  to  denote  his  true  and  unquestiona- 
ble Deity.  It  cannot  be  denied  that  our  Lord  is,  in  the  Old 
Testament,  called  Jehovah,  one  of  the  peculiar  names  of  the 
Deity,  for  which  the  Jews  had  the  highest  veneration.  In  a 
prophecy  of  Isaiah,  which  all  Christians  do  and  must  apply 
to  Christ,  because  it  is  expressly  quoted  and  applied  to  him 
by  John  his  forerunner,  it  is  said,  "  Prepare  ye  the  way  of  the 
Lord,  make  his  paths  straight."  In  the  original  it  is,  "pre- 
pare the  way  of  Jehovah.^'  This  naturally  introduces  another 
portion  of  the  answers  before  us,  namely,  That  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  was  "  the  eternal  Son  of  God." 

When  I  discoursed  to  you  on  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity, 
I  gave  what  I  consider  as  demonstrative  scripture  evidence, 


276  LECTURES  ON  THE 

of  the  proper  Deity  of  each  person  in  the  Godhead :  And  I 
have  just  now  mentioned  incidentally,  what  is,  by  itself,  a 
clear  scripture  proof  of  the  proper  Deity  of  Christ,  the  second 
person  in  the  adorable  Trinity.  We  shall  not  therefore  re- 
sume this  subject,  with  a  view  to  consider  it  extensively, — I 
shall  only  make  a  few^  remarks  on  the  eternal  Sonship  of 
Christ.  All  the  most  ancient  creeds,  or  symbols  of  the  Chris- 
tian church,  notice  this  point.  The  Apostles'  creed,  the 
Nicene  creed,  the  Athanasian  creed,  the  creed  of  the  Synod 
of  Calcedon,  all  either  allude  to  it,  or  distinctly  affirm  and  in- 
culcate it.  They  distinguish  carefully  the  Sonship  of  Christ, 
from  all  ideas  of  creation. — They  represent  him  as  the  Son  of 
God  by  a  peculiar  and  mysterious  relation ;  and  affirm  that 
he  is  of  the  same  essence  and  eternity  with  the  Father.  This 
seems  to  be  the  scripture  doctrine,  although  some  modern 
divines,  not  in  the  least  disposed  to  deny  the  divinity  of 
Christ,  have  maintained  that  the  appellation  Son  of  God,  is 
given  to  him  only  with  respect  to  his  mediatorial  office.  But 
as  we  are  baptized  in  the  name  of  the  Son,  as  well  as  of  the 
Father  and  Holy  Ghost,  it  seems  to  follow  that  his  Son- 
ship  is  equally  natural  and  necessary  with  the  paternity  of 
the  Father,  and  the  personality  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  In  a 
word,  the  Sonship  and  personality  of  Christ  are  the  same, 
eternal  in  existence,  and  constituting  the  second  hypostasis  in 
the  undivided  essence  of  the  glorious  Trinity. 

This  adorable  Being,  the  Son  of  God,  the  catechism  af- 
firms "  became  man ;"  that  is,  the  second  person  in  the  Tri- 
nity assumed  human  nature  into  a  perfect  union  with  his  own. 
This  is  technically  called  the  hypostatick  union.  And  after 
all  the  profane  and  foolish  cavils  which  have  been  raised  in 
regard  to  this  subject,  what  is  there  in  it  which,  however 
mysterious,  is  not  easy  of  belief?  To  explain  the  mode  or 
manner  of  it,  we  are  indeed  to  make  no  attempt;  and  as  lit- 
tle can  they  who  cavil  at  it,  and  say  they  will  believe  nothing 
which  they  cannot  comprehend, — as  little  can  they  explain 
how  their  own  souls  are  connected  with  their  bodies,  and  are 
operated  upon  by  them.     And  surely,  if  we  cannot  explain  a 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  277 

union  which  exists  in  our  own  nature,  it  is  not  wonderful 
that  we  cannot  explain  one  which  exists  in  the  nature  of  our 
infinite  Saviour.  What  a  monstrous  arrogance  is  it  to  affirm, 
that  the  Son  of  God  could  not  draw  our  nature  into  such  a 
union  with  his  own  as  to  be  one  with  it — one  person  and  yet 
both  natures  distinctly  preserved  ?  There  is  certainly  no- 
thing here  that  is  self-contradictory,  nothing  that  is  not 
plainly  competent  to  infinite  wisdom  and  power.  Yes,  and 
this  union  must  be  regarded  as  a  glorious  and  unquestionable 
fact,  on  which  our  salvation  rests. 

The  necessity  which  existed  for  th**!- union  of  the  divine 
with  the  human  nature,  in  the  economy  of  our  redemption, 
shall  be  considered  after  we  have  attended  briefly  to  the  man- 
ner in  which  the  human  nature  of  our  Lord  was  prepared,  so 
to  speak,  for  his  assumption. 

The  catechism  says  "  The  Son  of  God  became  man,  by 
taking  to  himself  a  true  body  and  a  reasonable  soul,  being 
conceived  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  in  the  womb  of 
the  Virgin  Mary,  born  of  her,  and  yet  without  sin."  It  was 
absolutely  necessary  that  the  human  nature  of  Christ  should 
be  conceived  and  born  without  sin;  not  only  because  it  was 
to  subsist  in  union  with  the  person  of  the  Son  of  God,  but 
also  because  it  was  to  be  made  a  sacrifice  for  the  sins  of  his 
redeemed  ones;  and  must  therefore  be  without  blemish — 
having  no  sin  or  stain  of  its  own,  either  natural  or  contracted, 
for  which  an  atonement  needed  to  be  made.  Such  therefore 
was  the  human  nature  of  Christ,  the  second  Adam,  as  sinless 
and  perfect  as  the  first  before  the  fall — Not  descended  from 
the  first  Adam  by  natural  generation,  but  miraculously  and 
immaculately  conceived  in  the  womb  of  one  of  his  descend- 
ants. The  grave  and  guarded  words  of  Holy  Scripture  on 
this  awful  subject  are — "  The  angel  said  unto  her  (Mary)  the 
Holy  Ghost  shall  come  upon  thee,  and  the  power  of  the  High- 
est shall  overshadow  thee;  therefore  also  that  Holy  thing 
which  shall  be  born  of  thee  shall  be  called  the  Son  of  God." 
As  it  is  only  in  this  answer  of  the  catechism  that  the  vir- 
2:in  mother  of  our  Lord  is  mentioned,  let  me  remark,  that 


278  LECTURES    ON  THE 

we  are  neither  to  worship  her,  nor  degrade  her.  She  was 
doubtless,  by  nature  a  sinner,  like  the  rest  of  the  human  fa- 
mily; and  was  redeemed  and  saved  by  him  to  whose  human 
nature  she  gave  birth.  On  one  occasion  our  blessed  Lord 
even  repressed  her  too  great  forwardness,  in  hinting  to  him 
that  there  was  a  call  for  the  exercise  of  his  miraculous  pow- 
ers. But  that  she  was  eminently  a  Saint;  that  her  faith, and 
resignation,  and  absolute  devotion  to  God,  on  the  message  of 
the  angel,  were  most  extraordinary  and  exemplary;  that  her 
relation  to  our  common  Saviour  should  render  her  name  dear 
and  venerable  to  us  alj;  and  that  we  should  fulfil  our  part  of 
her  own  prediction,  that  "henceforth  all  generations  shall  call 
me  blessed," — all  this  is  not  only  to  be  admitted,  but  remem- 
bered and  regarded.  Alas !  how  do  extremes  produce  each 
other,  and  how,  by  their  doing  so,  are  truth  and  duty  every 
way  injured  ?  The  religious  worship  which  has  been  paid  to 
the  Virgin  Mary  is  palpable  idolatry.  She  was  but  a  human 
being,  and  worship  is  due  only  to  God.  There  is  not  one 
word  in  the  holy  scriptures  to  warrant,  to  encourage,  or  to 
colour  the  offering  of  religious  worship  to  her ;  and  if  she 
herself  can  be  conscious  of  it,  she  must  perfectly  disapprove 
it.  Yet  in  counteracting  this  error,  the  veneration  and  affec- 
tion due  to  her  true  character,  has,  I  think,  been  sometimes 
refused,  or  impaired.  Let  us  avoid  both  extremes.  Let  us 
worship  God  alone;  but  let  us  love  and  venerate  all  his 
Saints,  and  the  mother  of  our  Lord  among  the  chief. 

We  are  now  to  consider  more  particularly,  that  our  Lord, 
in  his  human  nature,  had  "a  true  body  and  a  reasonable 
soul." 

These  words  in  the  catechism,  are  levelled  against  certain 
errors  which  chiefly  prevailed  in  remote  periods  of  the  church. 
"  Marcion,  Apelles,  Valentinus,  and  many  other  hereticks, 
denied  Christ's  humanity,  as  some  have  done  since.  But 
that  Christ  had  a  true  human  body,  and  not  a  mere  human 
shape,  or  a  body  that  was  not  real  flesh,  is  very  evident  from 
the  sacred  scriptures.  He  ate,  drank,  slept,  walked,  worked, 
and  was  weary.     He  groaned,  bled,  and  died  on  the  cross. 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  279 

It  is  also  as  evident  that  he  assumed  our  whole  nature,  soul 
as  well  as  body.  If  he  had  not,  he  could  not  have  been  ca- 
pable of  that  sore  amazement,  and  sorrow  unto  death,  and  all 
those  other  acts  of  grieving,  feeling,  rejoicing,  and  the  like, 
ascribed  to  him."*  In  simple  suffering  there  is  no  sin. 
Without  the  least  stain  of  moral  pollution,  therefore,  our  Lord 
might  and  did  feel,  all  the  innocent  infirmities  and  pains  of 
our  nature — "He  was  a  man  of  sorrows  and  acquainted  with 
grief." 

You  will  now  distinctly  remark,  that  it  was  with  this  sin- 
less human  nature,  that  the  eternal  Son  of  God  united 
himself;  so  as  to  constitute  one  person.  This  union  com- 
menced at  the  instant  when  the  human  soul  and  body  of  our 
Lord  vvere  joined  together;  so  that  the  same  moment  in 
which  the  soul  was  united  to  the  body,  both  soul  and  body 
subsisted  in  personal  union  with  the  Son  of  God.  This  is 
not  mere  theory  or  conjecture.  It  is  taught  in  the  declara- 
tion of  the  angel  to  the  virgin  mother  of  our  blessed  Lord, 
and  it  was  written  for  our  learning — "  That  holy  thing  which 
shall  be  born  of  thee  shall  be  called  the  Son  of  God."  Christ 
Jesus,  then,  from  his  very  birth,  was  the  Son  of  God;  that  is, 
the  divine  was  then  perfectly  united  with  the  human  nature, 
so  as  to  make  but  one  person.  Hence  it  is  that  he  is  called 
"  Immanuel,  God  with  us" — God  united  with  our  nature. 

Great  care  was  taken  by  the  ancient  Christians,  and  it  is 
also  taken  in  our  catechism,  not  to  confound  the  two  na- 
tures which  met  in  Christ;  and  yet  to  assert  with  equal  care, 
that  they  were  one  person.  The  Eutychians  of  old  main- 
tained, that  the  two  natures  were  mixed  and  blended,  so  as 
to  make  but  one  nature.  To  guard  against  this,  our  cate- 
chism says — "two  distinct  natures."  But,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  Nestorians  maintained,  that  each  nature  was  a  per- 
son, or  that  he  had  two  persons.  To  preclude  this  error,  our 
catechism  says  he  had  but  "  one  person,"  and  that  this  he 
will  have  "forever" — He  had  it  on  earth;  he  has  it  in  hea- 

*  Buck's  Theological  Dictionary. 


280  LECTURES  ON  THE 

ven  ;  he  will  have  it  to  eternity.  He  was,  is,  and  will  ever 
be,  God  and  man,  in  two  distinct  natures,  and  one  person. 

It  is  worthy  of  your  careful  observation  and  remembrance, 
that  as  there  is  but  one  person,  although  two  natures,  any  act 
proper  to  either  nature,  may  be  attributed  to  the  whole  per- 
son. .  This  affords  an  easy  and  natural  explanation  of  that  re- 
markable passage  in  the  Acts — "  Feed  the  church  of  God 
which  he  hath  purchased  with  his  own  blood.''^  In  this  text 
there  is  attributed  to  the  divine  nature  of  Christ,  what,  in 
strictness,  belonged  only  to  his  human  nature ;  but  as  both 
natures  were  in  one  person,  the  blood  of  Christ  is  expressly 
called  the  blood  of  God — ^A  text,  by  the  way,  which  those 
who  deny  the  divinity  of  Christ,  can  never  explain  or  plausi- 
bly colour.  Remember  then,  my  dear  children,  that  all  that 
Christ  did,  or  suffered,  or  continues  to  do  as  Mediator,  must 
be  considered  as  \hQ  personal  acts  of  a  being  who  was  God 
and  man  united  in  one  person ;  and  that  from  this  they  derive 
their  value  and  efficacy. 

The  way  is  now  prepared  for  closing  the  doctrinal  discus- 
sion of  the  answers  before  us,  by  stating,  as  was  promised  in 
the  foregoing  part  of  this  lecture,  the  necessity  which  existed, 
for  this  union  of  the  divine  with  the  human  nature,  so  as  to 
make  but  one  person,  in  Christ  Jesus  our  blessed  Lord.  Here 
I  shall  be  again  indebted  to  the  author  already  quoted,*  and 
yet  shall  not  confine  myself  to  his  ideas  and  language. 

It  was  necessary  that  the  Mediator  should  be  man,  1.  That 
he  might  be  related  to  those  in  behalf  of  whom  he  was  to 
fulfil  the  offices  of  Mediator  and  Redeemer;  that  he  might 
be  our  **'  kinsman,"  and  we  as  it  were  be  rendered  07ie  with 
him — "  members  of  his  body,  of  his  flesh  and  of  his  bones." 
— 2.  That  reconciliation  might  be  made  for  sin  in  the  same 
nature  which  had  sinned.  '^  For  as  much  then  as  the  chil- 
dren are  partakers  of  flesh  and  blood,  he  also  himself,  like- 
wise took  part  of  the  same;  that  through  death  he  might 
destroy  him  that  had  the  power  of  death,  that  is  the  devil." 

"  Buck  111  his  Thoological  Dictionary. 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  281 

—3.  It  was  proper  that  the  Mediator  should  be  capable  of 
obeying  the  law  of  God  broken  by  the  sin  of  man;  and  a 
person  exclusively  divine  could  not  be  subject  to  a  law  made 
for  man,  and  yield  obedience  to  it  only — "God  sent  forth  his 
Son,  made  of  a  woman,  made  under  the  law,  to  redeem 
them  that  were  under  the  law,  that  we  might  receive  the 
adoption  of  sons." — 4.  It  was  necessary  that  the  Mediator 
should  be  man  that  he  might  both  suffer  and  die ;  for  as  God 
he  could  neither  suffer  nor  die;  and  "without  shedding  of 
blood  there  was  no  remission." — 5.  It  was  fit  that  the  Mediator 
should  be  man,  that  he  might  be  qualified  to  sympathise  with 
his  people,  under  all  their  distresses,  temptations  and  trials — 
"For  we  have  not  a  high  priest  who  cannot  be  touched  with 
the  feelings  of  our  infirmities;  but  was  in  all  points  tempted 
like  as  we  are,  yet  without  sin — For  in  that  he  himself  hath 
suffered  being  tempted,  he  is  able  to  succour  them  that  are 
tempted."— 6.  It  was  indispensable  that  he  should  be  a  per- 
fectly holy  and  righteous  man,  free  from  all  sin,  original  and 
actual ;  that  being  in  no  respect  a  transgressor  himself,  he 
might  be  qualified  and  prepared  to  "offer  himself  without 
spot  to  God,"  take  away  the  sins  of  those  in  whose  behalf  he 
made  himself  "  a  sin-offering,"  and  be  afterwards  an  advo- 
cate for  them  with  the  Father — "For  such  a  high  priest  be- 
came us,  who  is  holy,  harmless,  undefiled,  separate  from  sin- 
ners, and  made  higher  than  the  heavens;  who  needeth  not 
daily,  as  those  high  priests,  to  offer  up  sacrifice,  first  for  his 
own  sins,  and  then  for  the  people;  for  this  he  did  once, 
when  he  offered  up  himself." 

Still  it  was  not  enough  for  the  Mediator  to  be  merely  a 
man,  although  perfectly  innocent  and  holy — It  behoved  him 
to  be  more  than  a  man;  yea  to  be  very  "  God  with  us"-— 
For  1.  No  mere  man  could,  on  such  a  footing  as  was  proper 
and  the  case  required,  enter  into  covenant  with  God,  and  me- 
diate between  him  and  sinful  man.  For  this,  a  being  of 
a  higher  order  than  man  was  essentially  requisite;  a  being 
who  should  be  duly  qualified  to  go  between  both  parties — of- 

2  N 


282  LECTURES  ON  THE 

fending  man  and  his  offended  Creator — "  Now  a  Mediator  is 
not  a  Mediator  of  one,  but  God  is  one." — 2.  It  was  requisite 
that  he  should  be  God,  that  the  divine  might  support  the 
human  nature,  under  the  infinite  load  of  wrath  and  suffering 
which  he  had  to  sustain,  when  he  stood  in  the  sinner's  place ; 
and  that  his  divine  nature  might  also  give  an  infinite  value 
and  efficacy  to  what  was  to  be  done  and  endured  in  his  human 
nature;  and  thus,  that  "he  who  knew  no  sin,  being  made 
sin  for  us,  we  might  be  made  the  righteousness  of  God  in 
l^im." — 3.  It  was  necessary  for  the  Mediator  to  be  God,  be- 
cause, in  the  economy  of  man's  redemption,  all  divine  gifts 
and  graces  were  to  be  treasured  up  in  him,  and  by  him, 
through  the  agency  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  to  be  dispensed  to  his 
people — of  whom  he  was  to  be  the  protector,  ever  present 
friend,  final  judge,  and  prevalent  intercessor;  and  with  refer- 
ence to  whom,  he  was  to  order  all  things  in  the  world  both  of 
nature  and  of  grace — "  Lo,"  said  he,  "I  am  with  you  alway, 
even  unto  the  end  of  the  world" — "  For  in  him  dwelleth  all 
the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  bodily — The  God  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  the  Father  of  glory — hath  set  him  at  his  own 
right  hand  in  the  heavenly  places ;  far  above  all  principality 
and  power,  and  might,  and  dominion,  and  every  name  that  is 
named,  not  only  in  this  world  but  in  that  which  is  to  come: 
and  hath  put  all  things  under  his  feet,  and  gave  him  to  be 
head  over  all  things  to  the  church,  which  is  his  body,  the  ful- 
ness of  him  that  filleth  all  in  all — And  of  his  fulness  have  all 
we  received,  and  grace  for  grace.  The  Father  judgeth  no 
man,  but  hath  given  all  judgment  to  the  Son — We  must  all 
appear  before  the  judgment  seat  of  Christ;  that  every  one 
may  receive  the  things  done  in  his  body,  according  to  that  he 
hath  done,  whether  it  be  good  or  bad." 

Thus  have  I  shown  you  briefly,  in  a  detail  of  particulars, 
each  supported  by  a  quotation  from  the  unerring  oracles,  that 
it  behoved  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  as  the  Mediator  of  the  new 
covenant,  to  be  both  God  and  man — Being  thus  God-man, 
he  is,  in  every  view,  a  perfect  Mediator.  Were  he  God  and 
not  man,  we  could  not  approach  him  but  with  fear  and  dread 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  283 

— Nay,  we  could  not  approach  him  at  all:  for  "  God  is  a  con- 
suming fire"  to  the  wicked.  And  were  he  man  and  not  God, 
neither  his  obedience  nor  suflferings  could  be  of  any  avail  to 
recommend  us  to  God  ;  and  we  should  be  guilty  of  idolatry, 
if  we  either  worshipped  Him,  or  put  our  whole  trust  in  him. 
But  being  what  he  is,  he  is  exactly  suited  to  all  our  wants. 
In  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  object  of  our  trust  is,  so  to 
speak,  brought  near  to  ourselves.  Those  well  known  tender 
affections  which  belong  to  human  nature,  and  which  are  only 
in  the  way  of  illustration  ascribed  to  the  Deity,  are  in  our 
great  Mediator  literally  realized.  Hence  it  appears  that  the 
plan  of  salvation  by  him,  is  the  most  suitable  to  human  beings 
that  can  possibly  be  conceived.  And  on  the  part  of  God  it  is 
not  less  suitable — By  the  obedience  unto  death  of  his  only  be- 
gotten and  well  beloved  Son,  the  honours  of  his  law  have 
been  completely  restored,  and  all  its  demands  most  fully  satis- 
fied; so  that  he  can  now  be  just  and  the  justifier  of  every  one 
that  believeth  in  Jesus;  and  so  also  that  his  glory  is  not  only 
in  all  respects  secured,  but  is  displayed  and  made  to  shine, 
more  illustriously  than  in  all  his  other  works.  In  a  word, 
here  it  is  that  the  declaration  is  verified — "  Mercy  and  truth 
have  met  together,  righteousness  and  peace  have  kissed  each 
other." 

Having  now  seen  the  perfect  mediatorial  character  of 
Christ,  it  only  remains  to  make  an  additional  remark  on  a 
clause  in  one  of  the  answers  we  consider,  which  has  already 
been  noticed  in  another  view. 

Observe  then,  that  when  it  is  said  that  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  is,  "  the  only  Redeemer  of  God's  elect" — the  words 
may  be  considered  as  expressing  the  same  idea  that  is  contain- 
ed in  the  declaration  of  the  Apostle  Paul,  where  he  says — 
"There  is  one  Mediator  between  God  and  man,  the  man 
Christ  Jesus."  As  there  is  but  "  one  Mediator"  between 
God  and  man,  you  will  readily  perceive  that  any  attempt  to 
divide  his  mediatorial  functions,  and  to  give  a  part  to  saints 
or  angels,  as  is  constantly  done  in  the  Romish  church,  dero- 
gates from  our  blessed  Saviour's  honour  and  office ;  and  just- 


284  LECTURES  ON  THE 

ly  subjects  those  who  do  it  to  the  charge  of  impiety  and  idola- 
try. It  is  also  to  be  remarked,  that  Christ  Jesus  mediates 
only  "  between  God  and  manP  The  fallen  angels  have  no 
Mediator.  They  are  left  in  a  state  of  hopeless  perdition — 
without  a  Saviour,  and  without  the  possibility  of  acceptance 
with  God. 

The  result  of  all  is,  that  through  Jesus  Christ,  as  God-man, 
Mediator,  we  have  free  access  to  the  mercy  seat  of  Jehovah. 
We  have  an  atoning  sacrifice,  a  powerful  and  prevalent  inter- 
cessor, and  God  is  reconcilable  to  us.  Every  hindrance  is 
taken  out  of  the  way ;  he  can  honourably  receive  us ;  and  the 
very  chief  of  sinners  is  welcome  and  invited  to  return  to  the 
Father  of  mercies.  His  own  people  too,  may  at  all  times  ap- 
proach him  with  a  holy  boldness,  and  lay  all  their  wants  and 
desires  before  him,  assured  of  a  gracious  audience  and  accep- 
tance, through  the  intervention  of  their  covenant  and  kins- 
man Redeemer. 

Meditate,  my  young  friends,  on  the  doctrinal  discussion  of 
the  important  answers  of  our  catechism,  to  which  your  atten- 
tion has  now  been  drawn — Meditate  on  what  you  have  heard, 
not  merely  as  a  matter  of  speculation,  but  in  the  way  of  hum- 
ble faith  and  devotion.  In  the  former  way,  the  meditation 
will  do  you  little  good;  in  the  latter,  it  will  be  replete  with 
the  richest  benefits — it  will  be  found  full  of  sweetness  and 
comfort.     Think 

I.  Of  the  wonderful  nature  of  the  facts  to  which  these  an- 
swers direct  you.  In  speaking  on  the  subjects  of  these  an- 
swers, a  pious  writer  asks — "  What  is  the  greatest  wonder 
that  the  world  ever  saw  ?  Answer — the  incarnation  of  the 
Son  of  God.  '  The  Word  was  made  flesh  and  dwelt  amongst 
us' — Two  natures  infinitely  distant  are  united  in  one  person. 
Astonishing,  glorious,  mysterious  fact!  Well  might  the  in- 
spired apostle  in  contemplating  it  exclaim — 'Without  contro- 
versy great  is  the  mystery  of  godliness;  God  was  manifest 
in  the  flesh,  justified  in  the  spirit,  seen  of  angels,  preached 
unto  the  Gentiles,  believed  on  in  the  world,  received  up  into 
glory.' '' 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  285 

2.  Think  on  the  honour  put  upon  our  nature  by  Christ, 
and  on  the  hopes  which  it  inspires.  The  eternal  Son  of  God 
"verily  took  not  on  him  the  nature  of  angels,  but  he  took  on 
him  the  seed  of  Abraham."  By  this  unparalleled  stoop  of 
condescension  on  the  part  of  our  Redeemer,  he  has  raised  our 
nature  to  a  dignity,  in  some  respects  superior  to  that  of  the 
highest  angel.  Our  nature,  which  he  assumed,  he  has  carried 
with  him  to  heaven,  to  the  right  hand  of  the  Father ;  and 
there  it  is,  and  will  forever  be,  united  to  his  divine  nature, 
while  he  receives  the  unceasing  adoration  and  praise  of  the 
whole  angelick  host.  If  this  subject  were  rightly  considered, 
we  should  here  find  one  of  the  strongest  motives  never  to  do 
any  thing  unworthy  of  human  nature — unworthy  of  a  nature 
which  is  assumed  and  worn  by  the  coequal  and  coeternal  Son 
of  God.  Let  us,  whenever  tempted  to  sin,  recollect  that  if 
we  consent,  we  act  most  unworthily  of  the  high  relation 
which  we  are  permitted  to  sustain  to  him  whom  angels  wor- 
ship, and  at  whose  feet  the  heavenly  host  count  it  their  ho- 
nour to  cast  their  crowns. 

Especially  may  those  who,  by  a  genuine  lively  faith,  have 
become  identified  with  their  Saviour— those  in  whose  behalf, 
in  his  last  intercessory  prayer  on  earth,  he  petitioned  his  Fa- 
ther "  that  they  may  be  one,  even  as  we  are  one:  I  in  them, 
and  thou  in  me,  that  they  may  be  made  perfect  in  one ;  and 
that  the  world  may  know  that  thou  hast  sent  me,  and  hast 
loved  them  as  thou  hast  loved  me" — especially  may  all  such 
cherish  the  assured  hope  that  nothing  in  heaven,  earth,  or 
hell,  shall  ever  separate  them  from  their  spiritual  head — their 
dear  and  adored  Lord.  Amidst  all  their  trials,  temptations, 
and  conflicts,  they  are  still  upheld  by  the  arm  of  their  Al- 
mighty Saviour,  their  kinsman  Redeemer.  They  are  so 
united  with  him,  that  they  can  no  more  perish  than  he  can  be 
plucked  from  his  throne.  Be  it  only  their  constant  care  to 
preserve  clear  and  bright  the  evidence  of  this  vital  union,  by 
the  exercise  of  a  lively  faith,  producing  in  them  all  the  fruits 
of  holy  living;  and  then  they  will  be  entitled  to  rejoice  with 
"  a  joy  which  is  exceeding  great  and  full  of  glory"— a  joy 


286  LECTURES  ON  THE 

which  will  in  a  measure  antedate  heaven  while  they  dwell  on 
earth;  and  which  shall,  ere  long,  be  consummated  in  the  un- 
utterable and  inconceivable  bliss  of  which  they  will  partake, 
when  they  shall  see  their  Saviour  face  to  face,  in  the  mansions 
which  he  has  gone  to  prepare  for  them. 

3.  The  wonderful  preparation  and  provision  which  is  made 
for  the  salvation  of  men,  by  the  mediatorial  character  and 
work  of  Christ,  should  urge  all  those  to  whom  this  "  great 
salvation"  is  made  known,  to  seek  it  with  the  utmost  earnest- 
ness and  perseverance.  How  will  any  of  you  escape,  my 
dear  youth,  if  you  neglect  it?  I  know  that,  in  regard  to 
many  of  you,  the  character  of  the  Saviour,  and  what  he  did 
and  endured  for  your  salvation,  and  the  infinite  importance  of 
your  obtaining  a  personal  and  saving  interest  in  Him  and  his 
glorious  work,  were  lessons  taught  to  you,  and  inculcated  on 
you,  by  your  pious  parents  and  friends,  from  the  very  time 
that  your  minds  were  capable  of  understanding  these  interest- 
ing topicks.  You  have  often,  very  often  since,  heard  them 
proclaimed  and  enforced  in  the  preaching  of  the  gospel.  This 
evening  you  have  been  hearing  of  them  again — And  are  there 
any  of  you,  who,  amidst  all  these  unspeakable  privileges  and 
advantages,  have,  to  this  hour,  remained  unprofited  by  the  Sa- 
viour's mediatorial  work?  Ah  !  recollect,  I  beseech  you,  the 
high  and  awful  responsibility  which  rests  upon  you.  If  you 
are  not  raised  to  heaven  by  a  saving  knowledge  of  Christ,  the 
intellectual  knowledge  you  possess,  will  sink  you  to  the 
lowest  hell.  This  tremendous  truth  it  is  my  affecting  duty 
to  declare  to  you  plainly :  and  I  do  it  in  hope,  that  under  the 
divine  blessing,  it  may  urge  you  to  speed  your  flight  to  the 
Saviour,  before  the  door  of  mercy  shall  be  forever  closed. 
Avail  yourselves  then,  while  yet  you  may,  of  the  gracious 
promise  held  forth  to  the  young,  in  the  scriptures  of  truth — 
"  they  that  seek  me  early  shall  find  me."     Amen. 


SHORTER  CATEClilSM.  287 


LECTURE  XXI. 

What  offices  doth  Christ  execute  as  our  Redeemer? 
How  doth  Christ  execute  the  office  of  a  Prophet? 

Your  attention  will  be  occupied  in  this  lecture,  by  two  an- 
swers of  our  catechism — The  first  is — "  Christ,  as  our  Re- 
deemer, executeth  the  office  of  a  prophet,  of  a  priest,  and  of 
a  king,  both  in  his  estate  of  humiliation  and  exaltation." 

This  answer  is  chiefly  to  be  regarded  as  introductory  and 
preparatory,  to  the  three  which  immediately  follow  it,  in 
which  the  offices  of  Christ  are  distinctly  and  particularly  ex- 
plained. There  are  however  some  things,  of  a  general  nature, 
which  may,  with  more  propriety  and  advantage,  be  consi- 
dered here  than  elsewhere. 

You  will  observe  then,  in  the  first  place,  that  it  is  in  his 
mediatorial  character ,  that  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  to  be  con- 
sidered as  exercising  all  the  offices  which  have  been  specified. 
The  mediatory  office  of  Christ  may  be  considered  as  o.  general 
one^  which  he  always  and  invariably  sustains,  and  of  which 
the  others  are  only  particular  and  constituent  parts;  that  is, 
the  office  of  mediator  is  never  laid  aside  or  suspended,  but  is 
always  exercised  by  our  Redeemer,  when  he  acts  as  prophet, 
priest  and  king  of  his  church. — "  There  is  one  mediator  be- 
tween God  and  man,  the  man  Christ  Jesus." 

Observe  in  the  next  place,  that  there  is  a  clear  foundation 
for  these  several  offices  of  the  great  Mediator,  both  in  the 
scriptures  and  in  the  reason  and  nature  of  things.  This  has 
sometimes  been  denied,  and  even  treated  with  contempt;  as 
if  to  speak  of  Christ  as  the  prophet,  priest,  and  king  of  his 
church,  was  no  better  than  theological  jargon.  Nothing  how- 
ever can  be  farther  from  the  truth  than  this.  Christ  was  ex- 
pressly predicted  to  the  ancient  Israelites  under  each  of  these 
characters;  and  he  actually  sustains  them  in  the  work  of  our 


2SS  LECTURES  ON  THE 

salvation.  Moses  foretold  the  coming  of  our  Lord,  under  the 
character  of  a  prophet. — "  The  Lord  thy  God  will  raise  up 
unto  thee  a  prophet^  from  the  midst  of  thee,  of  thy  brethren, 
like  unto  me :  unto  him  shall  ye  hearken."  Accordingly 
our  Saviour  was  recognised  as  being  he  of  whom  Moses  spake. 
When  the  people  had  seen  one  of  his  miracles,  they  said 
— *'  This  is  of  a  truth  that  prophet  that  should  come  into  the 
world  :"  and  Peter,  in  the  Acts,  expressly  applies  the  predic- 
tion of  Moses  to  Christ. 

Our  Lord  is  also  distinctly  predicted  as  a  priest,  in  the 
110th  Psalm — "The  Lord  hath  sworn  and  will  not  repent, 
thou  art  a  priest  forever,  after  the  order  of  Melchisedeck." 
This  prediction  is  quoted  and  applied  to  Christ  by  the  author 
of  the  epistle  to  the  Hebrews;  and  a  considerable  part  of  that 
epistle  is  employed,  for  the  very  purpose  of  showing  in  what 
a  superior  manner  our  Lord  sustained  and  performed  the  office 
of  a  priest. 

Again.  In  the  2d  psalm,  which  is  a  continued  prediction  of 
the  Messiah  and  his  acts,  Christ  is  represented  as  the  anoint- 
ed and  reigning  king  of  Zion — *^  I  have  set  my  king  upon  my 
holy  hill  of  Zion."  Under  this  character  the  Messiah  was, 
and  indeed  still  is,  looked  for  by  the  Jews — sadly  mistaking, 
as  they  did  and  do,  the  nature  of  his  kingdom,  in  supposing 
he  was  to  be  a  temporal,  and  not  a  spiritual  prince.  Hence 
it  was,  that  on  one  occasion  they  were  about  "  to  take  him  by 
force,  and  to  make  him  a  king." 

You  will  be  careful  to  notice  that  these  offices  of  Christ,  as 
mediator,  relate  to  the  state,  character,  and  situation  of  man- 
kind, as  sinners — The  nature  of  our  salvation  required  that 
it  should  be  revealed  by  him  as  a  prophet ;  purchased  by  him 
as  a  priest;  and  applied  by  him  as  a  king.  His  prophetical 
office,  therefore,  respects  our  ignorance;  his  priestly  office 
our  guilt;  and  his  kingly  office  our  pollution,  defilement,  and 
thraldom  in  sin  ;  Accordingly,  as  a  prophet  he  is  made  of 
God  unto  us  wisdom ;  as  a  priest  righteousness ;  as  a  king 
sanctification  and  complete  redemption. 

So  also,  in  regard  to  the  promises  of  God  made  to  his  peo- 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  289 

pie — They  are  revealed  by  Christ  as  a  prophet;  confirmed 
by  his  blood  as  a  priest;  and  eflfectually  applied  and  fulfilled, 
by  his  power  as  a  king. 

And  here  it  may  be  proper  just  to  mention,  that  all  these 
ofiices  did  never  centre  in  any  one  person  but  in  Christ  alone 
— In  order,  as  it  would  appear,  to  show  the  unequalled  dig- 
nity of  our  blessed  and  glorious  Redeemer,  none  of  those 
who  were  typical  of  him,  under  the  Old  Testament,  were 
ever  clothed  with  them  all.  Melchisedeck  was  a  king  and  a 
priest;  Moses  was  a  ruler  and  a  prophet;  Jeremiah  was  a 
priest  and  a  prophet;  David  was  a  king  and  a  prophet;  but 
Christ  alone  was  prophet,  priest  and  king. 

It  is  only  necessary  farther  to  remark  on  the  answer  before 
us,  that  Christ  did  and  does  execute  these  several  ofiices, 
both  in  his  estate  of  humiliation  on  earth,  and  in  his  state  of 
exaltation  in  heaven.  Having  done  on  earth  whatever  these 
ofiices  here  required,  he  has  gone  to  heaven,  there  to  sus- 
tain them  in  the  kingdom  and  temple  of  God  above.  The 
manner  in  which  this  is  done,  is  explained  in  the  three  fol- 
lowing answers — to  the  first  of  which  we  now  proceed. 

"  Christ  executeth  the  ofiice  of  a  prophet,  in  revealing  to 
us,  by  his  word  and  Spirit,  the  will  of  God  for  our  salva- 
tion.'' 

The  ofiice  of  a  prophet  is,  to  reveal  and  teach  the  counsel 
and  will  of  God.  Of  the  nature  of  prophecy  in  general,  it 
would  lead  me  too  far  from  the  subject  immediately  before 
us,  to  speak  particularly.  Yet  it  is  an  important  subject  in 
itself,  and  does  not  occur  again  in  the  very  compendious  sys- 
tem of  theology  given  in  the  catechism.  In  Buck's  Theolo- 
gical Dictionary,  a  work  to  which  you  may  easily  have  ac- 
cess, under  the  word  prophecy,  you  will  find  an  extremely 
well  written  article,  which  I  would  recommend  to  your  care- 
ful perusal.  In  the  mean  time,  some  leading  ideas  on  the 
subject,  will  naturally  mingle  themselves  in  the  discussion 
before  us. 

My  children,  we  owe  it  entirely  to  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
in  his  prophetic  character,  that  we  have  a  Bible.     "  He  ^xe- 

2  o 


290  LECTURES  ON  THE 

cutes  the  office  of  a  prophet,  (says  the  catechism)  by  reveal- 
ing to  us  the  will  of  God  for  our  salvation" — in  the  first 
place,  ^*  by  his  word."  The  Holy  Spirit,  the  third  person  in 
the  adorable  Trinity,  is  the  immediate  agent  in  making  pro- 
phetic communications  inwardly  to  the  minds  of  men.  Hence 
says  the  apostle  Peter — "  The  prophecy  came  not  in  old  time 
by  the  will  of  man;  but  holy  men  of  God  spake  as  they  were 
moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost.^^ — But  the  blessed  Spirit,  who  pro- 
ceedeth  from  the  Father  and  the  Son,  is  specially  considered, 
in  this  work,  as  the  Spirit  of  Christ.  This  is  expressly  taught, 
or  affirmed,  by  the  very  apostle  just  q noted ^ — Attend  care- 
fully to  the  following  passas^e.  "  Of  which  salvation  the  pro- 
phets have  inquired  avi(\  se3r:?hpd  diilgently,  who  prophesied 
of  the  grace  which  should  come  untn  you:  Searching  what, 
or  what  manner  of  time,  the  Spirit  oj  Christ  which  ivas  in 
them  did  signify,  when  it  testified  beforehand  the  sufierings 
of  Christ,  and  the  glory  that  should  foiiow."  Here  we  see 
that  it  was  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  whi'?h  '-vas  in  those  holy 
men  of  God  ;  who,  in  old  time,  spake  as  they  were  moved 
by  the  Holy  Ghost. 

You  must  observe  that  there  have  been  three  dispensations 
of  the  covenant  of  grace,  Patriarchal,  Mosaick,  and  Christian. 
Revelations  were  made  to  prophets  and  holy  men.  from  the 
very  time  of  the  first  apostacy.  We  are  not  told  of  the  pre- 
cise manner  in  which  a  communication  was  made  of  the 
threatening  and  doom  pronounced  on  the  tempter,  nor  of  the 
gracious  intimation  given  to  our  first  parents  immediately 
after  the  fall,  that  the  seed  of  the  woman  should  bruise  the 
serpent's  head  :  Yet  we  are  explicitly  informed  of  the  fact, 
that  these  communications  were  made;  and  we  have  reason 
to  believe,  as  already  observed,  that  the  faith  of  our  first  pa- 
rents in  the  intimation  of  a  Messiah  to  come,  was  effisctual 
to  their  salvation.  We  are  expressly  informed,  in  the  New 
Testament,  that  Enoch,  the  seventh  from  Adam,  was  a  pro- 
phet; and  a  part  of  his  prophecy,  or  the  subject  of  it,  is 
given  us.  Divine  communications,  after  this,  were  made  to 
Noah,  to  Melchisedeck,  to  Abraham,  to  Isaac,  to  Jacob,  to 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  291 

Joseph,  and  it  is  probable  to  several  others,  till  the  time  of 
Moses. 

Moses  was  the  most  eminent  prophet  of  the  dispensation 
to  which  he  has  given  name.  He  wrote  the  first  five  books 
of  the  Bible,  which  from  their  number  are  denominated  the 
Pentateuch.  He  has  given  us  the  history  of  the  creation,  of 
the  fall  of  man,  of  the  antediluvian  world,  and  of  the  church 
up  to  his  own  time.  It  is  of  no  consequence  to  know,  if  it 
were  possible  to  know — which  it  is  not — how  much  of  this 
early  history  Moses  might  be  able  to  give  from  authentick 
tradition ;  which,  before  the  use  of  letters  and  during  the 
long  lives  of  the  antediluvians,  was  doubtless  much  more  ac- 
curate than  with  us  at  present.  That  much  of  these  things 
was  then  known  by  tradition  to  others,  as  well  as  to  Moses, 
there  is  no  reason  to  question.  But  we  are  sure  that  the  his- 
tory of  the  creation  itself  coula  not  be  known  to  any  mortal, 
but  by  a  revelation  from  God  :  And  if  revealed,  as  it  no  doubt 
was,  to  Adam,  Moses,  who  wrote  under  the  guidance  of  in- 
spiration, was  preserved  from  all  error,  in  the  account  he 
gave  both  of  this  and  of  subsequent  events.  In  whatever 
manner  his  information  was  acquired,  whether  by  tradition 
or  revelation,  or  both,  the  portion  that  has  come  down  to  us 
was  just  as  much  as  God  saw  fneet  to  be  put  on  record.  The 
whole,  I  repeat,  was  at  least  verified  by  an  unerring  revela- 
tion  to  Moses;  so  that  all  errors  of  tradition,  if  errors  there 
were,  were  corrected;  and  an  account  free  from  all  inaccura- 
cy, was  thus  secured,  for  the  use  of  the  church  to  the  end  of 
time. 

After  Moses  there  was  a  succession  of  prophets — with 
some  intervals  between  the  death  of  one  and  the  appearance 
of  another — till  the  time  of  Malachi ;  which  was  about  400 
years  before  the  birth  of  Christ.  Prophecy  then  ceased,  till 
the  time  of  John  the  Baptist. 

In  so  common  a  book  as  Cruden's  Concordance,  under  the 
word  prophet,  you  may  find  an  account  of  the  order  and  times 
in  which  the  prophets  of  the  Old  Testament  appeared,  and  of 
the  standing,  as  to  authority,  which  they  had  among  the  Jews. 


292  LECTURES  ON  THE 

On  these  topicks,  therefore,  1  shall  not  dwell.  It  may  be  pro- 
per  however  to  remark,  that  there  was  a  variety  of  ways  in 
which  prophetick  communications  were  made  to  prophets,  in 
every  age.  Sometimes  it  was  by  supernatural  appearances, 
either  of  angels,  as  in  the  case  of  Abraham,  Lot  and  Manoah  ; 
or  of  other  accompanying  miracles,  as  in  the  case  of  Elijah  and 
others.  Sometimes  by  an  audible  voice,  as  in  the  case  of 
Moses  at  Mount  Sinai,  and  of  Samuel  and  Elijah,  in  other 
circumstances.  Sometimes  by  extraordinary  visions,  as  in 
the  cases  of  Ezekiel,  and  the  Apostle  John.  Sometimes  by 
dreams,  as  in  the  case  of  Daniel  and  others.  And  most  fre- 
quently of  all,  by  inward  illumination,  and  impulses. 

No  one  will  question  that  it  is  competent  to  the  Deity,  both 
to  communicate  his  mind  and  will  to  his  intelligent  creatures, 
and  to  make  them  perfectly  assured  of  the  fact — so  assured  as 
to  be  under  no  danger  and  no  possibility  of  deception — And 
all  this  was  actually  done  in  the  case  of  all  the  ancient  pro- 
phets. In  whatever  manner  they  obtained  it,  they  had,  it  is 
manifest,  certain  knowledge  that  what  they  delivered  was  a 
message  from  God. 

The  testimony  to  be  given  to  others  that  an  individual 
spake  under  divine  direction,  consisted  in  working  a  miracle, 
or  else  in  such  a  weight  of  previous  unexceptionable  charac- 
ter, or  of  piibiick  prophetick  ofBce — for  which  numbers  were 
educated  in  schools  established  for  the  purpose — as  to  leave 
no  reasonable  doubt  that  the  message  was  indeed  from  God. 

It  may  be  proper  to  observe  further,  that  almost  the  whole 
of  the  Patriarchal  and  Mosaick  dispensations  were,  in  a  sense, 
prophetick.  My  meaning  is,  that  the  persons,  types,  sym- 
bols, and  sacrifices  of  those  di\s^er\sdii\ons^  foreshowed  the  Sa- 
viour, and  his  character  and  work — That  they  as  well  as  pro- 
phecy, were  calculated  and  intended,  not  only  to  give  as- 
surance of  the  advent  of  Christ,  but  also  to  teach  what  he  was 
to  do  and  to  effect. 

At  length  Christ  himself,  the  great  prophet  of  his  church 
appeared  in  the  world  ;  and  spake  as  never  man  spake.  Yet 
he  recorded  nothing  with  his  own  hand.     The  only  authentick 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  293 

information  we  have  that  he  ever  wrote,  relates  to  the  fact 
that  "  he  stooped  down  and  wrote  with  his  tinger  on  the 
ground."  But  the  faithful  record  of  many  of  his  discourses 
and  doctrines,  as  well  as  of  his  publick  acts  and  miracles,  is 
given  us  by  the  four  evangelists,  under  the  guidance  of  the 
Spirit  of  infallible  truth. 

After  the  death  of  Christ,  Luke,  who  wrote  the  gospel 
which  bears  his  name,  penned  also  the  ^cts  of  the  Jiposile&, 
containing  a  short  history  of  the  establishment  of  the  primitive 
church.  And  several  of  the  apostles,  among  the  chief  of 
whom  was  Paul,  the  great  apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  gave  a  far 
more  full  and  extensive  exposition  and  detail  of  the  Christian 
doctrines  and  principles,  than  it  was  proper  to  give  during  the 
life  of  our  Redeemer.  Some  have  been  disposed  to  consider 
the  writings  of  the  evangelists,  as  of  higher  authority  than 
those  of  the  authors  of  the  epistles.  But  there  is  no  ground 
whatever  for  this  distinction:  all  are  of  equal  authority,  for 
all  were  equally  given  by  a  plenary  inspiration. 

Last  of  all,  we  have  "The  Revelation"  made  to  St.  John; 
in  which  a  prophetick  view  is  exhibited  of  the  state  of  the 
church,  to  the  very  end  of  time.  At  the  close  of  this  book 
an  intimation  is  given,  accompanied  with  an  awful  commina- 
tion,  that  the  canon  of  Scripture  is  complete — from  which 
nothing  is  to  be  subtracted,  and  to  which  nothing  is  to  be  add- 
ed. All  subsequent  pretensions  to  prophecy,  therefore,  are 
false  and  vain.  Christ,  as  the  great  prophet  of  his  church 
has,  in  that  sacred  book,  the  bible,  revealed  all  that  is  ne- 
cessary to  salvation,  and  will  never  make  an  addition.  And 
remember,  my  young  friends  that,  as  it  all  came/rom  him, 
so  it  all  points  to  him.  "  The  testimony  of  Jesus  is  the  spirit 
of  prophecy"— He  is  the  centre  of  all,  and  to  lead  us  savingly 
to  the  knowledge  and  enjoyment  of  him,  is  the  design  of  all. 
But  in  order  to  this,  be  careful  to  remember  that  you  must  be 
taught  inwardly  by  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  as  well  as  outward- 
ly by  his  word.  You  perceive  that  this  the  catechism  dis- 
tinctly affirms  and  inculcates.  It  affirms  that  Christ,  as  the 
great  prophet  of  his  church,  not  only  reveals  his  word  for 


394  LECTURES  ON  THE 

salvation,  but  that  he  also  reveals  it  to  us,  by  his  Spirit — The 
meaning  is,  not  that  he  gives  us  personally  any  new  revela- 
tion, but  that  he  reveals  to  our  hearts  effectually,  the  spiritual 
import  of  the  revelation  contained  in  the  Bible.  To  look, 
therefore,  on  the  one  hand,  for  any  new  revelation,  is  rank  en- 
thusiasm or  presumption.  And  to  expect,  on  the  other,  that 
the  revelation  given  will  save  our  souls,  till  it  is  effectually  set 
home  by  the  Spirit  who  endited  it,  is  ruinous  self-sufficiency 
and  delusion. 

The  Holy  Spirit,  by  whose  inspiration  the  sacred  scriptures 
were  penned,  opens  the  eyes  of  the  human  understanding  to 
perceive  the  moral  glory,  beauty  and  excellence  of  divine 
truth,  beyond  any  attainment  ever  made  by  mere  learning  or 
study,  without  this  heavenly  aid.  The  same  Almighty  agent 
also  gives  divine  truth,  when  thus  perceived,  a  transform- 
ing influence  on  the  heart — agreeably  to  our  Saviour's  inter- 
cessory prayer,  "  Sanctify  them  through  thy  truth,  thy  word 
is  truth.''  "The  entrance  of  thy  words,"  says  the  Psalmist, 
"  giveth  light;  it  giveth  understanding  to  the  simple."  Under 
the  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  inwardly  revealing  the  truths 
of  sacred  scripture  to  the  minds  of  men,  the  gospel  method  of 
salvation  is  seen  to  be  so  suitable,  so  excellent,  so  complete — 
so  worthy  of  God  and  so  desirable  to  the  sinner — that  lan- 
guage can  scarcely  express  the  perceptions  which  are  then  en- 
tertained; and  the  heart,  at  the  same  time,  is  most  powerful- 
ly, but  most  sweetly  persuaded,  inclined  and  enabled,  to  fall 
in  with  and  embrace  the  offered  grace  of  the  gospel.  At  dif- 
ferent times,  the  various  parts  and  passages  of  scripture  are 
thus  presented  to  the  view  of  the  mind;  and  with  such  evi- 
dence, force,  and  fitness  to  the  wants  of  the  believer,  that  the 
most  happy  practical  effects  are  produced.  Practical  Chris- 
tians, indeed,  are  those  only  who  are  acquainted  with  these 
blessed  efiects  of  revealed  truth— effects  which,  after  all  rea- 
soning, afford  the  fullest  and  most  gratifying  and  satisfying 
conviction,  that  the  source  whence  they  are  derived  must  be 
divine — that  the  scriptures  are  given  by  the  inspiration  of 
f^od.     On  the  whole  then,  my  dear  youth,  expect  no  new 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  295 

revelation,  nor  credit  any  pretences  that  such  a  revelation  has 
been  received;  but  earnestly  and  constantly  look  to  God,  to 
reveal  savirgly  in  your  understandings  and  hearts,  by  the 
power  of  his  Spirit,  the  revelation  which  he  has  caused  to  be 
recorded  in  the  sacred  volume. 

In  concluding  what  I  have  to  offer  on  this  topick,  it  may 
be  proper  just  to  mention,  that  in  reading  pious  writers  on 
the  subject  of  experimental  religion,  you  will  probably  some- 
times meet  with  the  record  of  inward  impressions^  urging 
them  to  dut}-.  In  all  such  cases,  it  must  be  understood  that 
the  duty  to  which  they  were  urged,  was  one  clearly  warrant- 
ed by  the  written  word — Otherwise,  the  impression  must  be 
regarded  as  altogether  fond  and  delusive.  The  divine  Spirit 
may,  and  certainly  does,  incline  and  draw  us  to  the  practice 
of  Scripture  truth,  but  never  to  any  thing  which  is  contrary 
to  that  truth,  or  inconsistent  with  it. 

In  concluding  this  lecture  let  me  exhort  you — 
1.  To  meditate,  with  lively  gratitude  to  God,  on  his  great 
goodness  in  revealing  to  us  his  mind  and  will  in  "  the  lively 
oracles"  of  inspiration.  Without  these,  all  history  shows 
that  mankind,  however  otherwise  improved  or  enlightened, 
have  uniformly  been  polytheists  and  idolaters.  How  thank- 
fully then  ought  we  to  receive  those  blessed  communications, 
which  a  gracious  God  has  been  pleased  to  make  by  his  Son, 
through  his  own  blessed  Spirit — communications  relative  to 
his  own  nature  and  will,  the  manner  in  which  we  may  wor- 
ship him  acceptably,  the  whole  duty  which  he  requires  of  us, 
the  way  of  return  to  him  through  the  intervention  of  a  Re- 
deemer, and  the  certainty  of  eternal  happiness  beyond  the 
grave,  to  all  who  truly  accept  and  rely  on  Christ  as  he  is  free 
ly  offered  in  the  gospel.  The  world  witnesses  no  combina- 
tion of  folly,  ingratitude  and  impiety,  equal  to  that  which  is 
manifested  by  those  who  cast  from  them  with  contempt  the 
unspeakable  gift  of  God — the  volume  of  his  revealed  will — 
Be  it  yours,  my  dear  youth,  to  act  a  wiser  and  better  part.  Re- 
verence profoundly,  and  study  diligently  and  carefully,  those 
<*  holy  scriptures  which  are  able  to  make  you  wise  unto  salva- 


296  LECTURES  ON  THE 

tion,  throug:h  faith  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus.^^  In  ordinary 
circumstances,  let  no  day  of  your  life  pass  without  reading;  a 
portion  of  these  Scriptures,  attentively  and  devoutly.  Make 
them,  in  all  cases,  the  man  of  your  counsel,  and  endeavour  to 
govern  your  conduct  and  your  feelings  by  their  sacred  dic- 
tates. 

2.  Learn  from  what  you  have  heard,  to  accompany  the 
perusal  of  the  scriptures,  with  earnest  prayer  for  the  iniigences 
of  that  Holy  Spirit  by  whom  they  were  indited;  that  the 
truths  they  contain  may  enter  your  understandings  and  your 
hearts  with  a  saving  efficacy.  It  is  the  want  of  this,  believe 
it,  which  is  the  reason  that  some  knowledge  of  the  Bible — in 
many  instances  a  very  considerable  intellectual  knowledge 
— is  entirely  unproductive  of  the  fruits  of  holiness — the  great 
end  for  which  God  has  revealed  his  will,  and  to  attain  which 
should  be  our  main  purpose  in  becoming  familiar  with  it. 
Revealed  truth,  like  other  truth,  may  enlarge  our  intellectual 
stores,  without  having  much,  or  any  influence,  on  the  moral 
powers  of  our  minds — on  the  conscience  and  the  affections. 
To  produce  thi&  effect,  there  must  be,  if  I  may  so  express  it, 
a  second  revelation.  The  Holy  Spirit,  agreeably  to  the  dis- 
tinct intimation  of  the  Saviour  himself,  the  great  prophet  of 
his  church,  must  <*  take  of  the  things  which  are  his,  and  show 
them  unto  us" — must  bring  home  the  truths  which  relate  to 
him,  and  to  our  eternal  well  being,  with  a  light  and  a  trans- 
forming energy,  which  shall  render  us  "  new  creatures  in 
Christ  Jesus."  Pray  for  this  in  the  devout  daily  reading  of 
your  Bibles;  for  I  verily  believe  that  this  practice  was  never 
long  continued  without  the  most  sensible  benefit — never  per- 
sisted in,  without  being  ultimately  productive  of  that  faith, 
the  end  of  which  is  the  salvation  of  the  soul.     Amen. 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  297 


LECTURE  XXII. 

How  doth  Christ  execute  the  office  of  a  Priest? 

The  subject  of  the  ensuing  lecture  is  the  answer  to  the 
twenty-fifth  question  of  our  catechism,  which  is  thus  ex- 
pressed-— 

"Christ  executeth  the  office  of  a  Priest,  in  his  once  offer- 
ing up  himself  a  sacrifice,  to  satisfy  divine  justice,  and  recon- 
cile us  to  God;  and  in  making  continual  intercession  for  us.'^ 

My  dear  youth — No  part  of  theological  truth  is  more  closely 
connected  with  what  is  essential  to  our  salvation,  than  the 
priestly  office  of  Christ,  the  subject  which  is  now  before  us — 
Give  it  therefore  your  most  serious  attention. 

"A  priest  is  a  publick  person,  who,  in  the  name  of  the 
guilty,  deals  with  an  offended  God,  for  reconciliation  by  sa- 
crifice, which  he  offers  to  God  upon  an  altar,  being  thereto 
called  of  God  that  he  may  be  accepted — No  man  taketh  this 
honour  unto  himself,  but  he  that  was  called  of  God,  as  was 
Aaron. '^'^  Thus,  under  the  Mosaick  dispensation,  the  high 
priest,  in  performing  his  most  sacred  duties,  was  the  repre- 
sentative of  all  the  tribes  of  Israel ;  and  in  token  of  it,  he  was 
commanded  to  bear  their  names  on  the  shoulders  of  the  ephod, 
and  on  the  breast-plate  of  judgment  upon  his  heart,  whenever 
he  should  go  into  the  holy  place,  "  for  a  memorial  before  the 
Lord  continually.'^ 

In  all  this,  the  legal  high  priest  was  nothing  more  than  a 
type  of  Christ,  the  true  high  priest  of  his  church,  who  ap- 
pears before  God  in  the  name  of  sinners,  to  make  reconcilia- 
tion for  them  ; — and  who,  in  this  transaction,  bears  as  it  were, 
the  names  of  his  people  on  his  heart. 

You  will  particularly  observe  that  it  is  not  a  mere  inference 
made  by  me,  or  by  any  other  fallible  man,  that  the  ancient 

*  Erskine  and  Fisher. 
2  p 


298  LECTURES  ON  THE 

priesthood  was  truly  and  circumstantially  typical  of  Christ. 
The  infallible  words  of  inspiration,  in  the  plainest  manner 
declare  and  explain  this  truth.  They  show  in  detail,  how 
those  ancient  institutions  "are  a  shadow  of  good  things  to 
come,  but  that  the  body  is  of  Christ."  This  is  especially  and 
largely  done  in  the  epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  where  the  in- 
spired writer  shows  the  superiority  of  the  antitype  to  the 
type; — of  Christ  as  a  priest,  over  all  who  sustained  that  office 
in  the  Mosaick  ritual.  Now,  in  relation  to  this  superiority, 
there  are  a  number  of  important  particulars,  which  it  may  be 
proper  cursorily  to  mention. 

1.  The  superiority  of  his  nature  and  person.  The  Jewish 
priests  were  but  mere  men;  He  was  "the  true  God  and  eter- 
nal life."  They  were  sinful  men,  and  needed  to  offer  "first 
for  themselves,  and  then  for  the  people ;"  He  had  no  sins  of 
his  own,  but  was  "  holy,  harmless,  undefiled  and  separate 
from  sinners." 

2.  Christ  was  superior  to  the  ancient  priests  in  the  manner 
of  his  investiture,  or  installation.  "  Those  priests  were  made 
without  an  oath;  but  Christ  with  an  oath,  by  him  that  said 
unto  him.  The  Lord  sware,  and  will  not  repent,  thou  art  a 
priest  forever,  after  the  order  of  Melchisedeck.  By  so  much 
is  Jesus  made  a  surety  of  a  better  testament."  Being  thus 
invested  with  the  priestly  office,  by  the  oath  of  the  eternal 
Father,  the  most  solemn  and  affecting  assurance  was  given  of 
his  being  accepted,  in  whatever  he  should  do  in  that  office  for 
the  salvation  of  his  people. 

3.  The  efficacy  and  perfection  of  the  sacrifice  offered  by 
our  Redeemer,  was  infinitely  superior  to  those  sacrifices 
which  were  but  types  of  his.  "It  is  not  possible  (says  the 
author  of  the  epistle  to  the  Hebrews)  that  the  blood  of  bulls 
and  of  goats  should  take  away  sins — But  this  man,  after  he 
had  offered  one  sacrifice  for  sins,  forever  sat  down  on  the 
right  hand  of  God — By  that  one  sacrifice,  he  hath  perfected 
forever  them  that  are  sanctified." 

4.  The  superiority  of  the  priestly  office  of  Christ,  is  mani- 
fested in  its  unchangeableness  and  perpetuity,     "  They  truly 


SHORTER    CATECHISM.  299 

(says  the  sacred  writer  last  quoted)  were  many  priests,  be- 
cause they  were  not  suffered  to  continue,  by  reason  of  death : 
But  this  man,  because  he  continueth  ever,  hath  an  unchange- 
able priesthood — For  he  testifieth — thou  art  a  priest  forever 
after  the  order  of  Melchisedeck."  Of  Melchisedeck  you 
know  that  it  is  said,  "  he  had  neither  beginning  of  days  nor 
end  of  life;'^  the  meaning  of  which  is,  that  no  account  is 
given  us  of  his  birth  and  parentage,  nor  of  his  death.  But  he 
was  both  a  king  and  a  priest ;  and  though  there  is  no  reason 
to  doubt  that  he  died  like  other  men,  yet  as  he  was  an  emi- 
nent type  of  Christ  in  many  respects,  so  there  was  a  peculiar 
resemblance  in  this,  that  he  succeeded  to  no  other  priest,  and 
no  other  succeeded  to  him.  Christ  has  no  successor,  for  "he 
himself  abideth  a  priest  continually — He  ever  liveth  to  make 
intercession  for  us." 

As  these  particulars  serve  to  show  the  superior  nature  of 
our  Lord's  priestly  office,  so  you  will  observe  that  they  give 
us  a  full  scriptural  warrant,  to  consider  our  Redeemer  as  exe- 
cuting that  office,  in  all  its  functions  and  in  all  its  details. 
When  therefore  we  do  this,  we  follow  no  fancy  of  our  own; 
we  adopt  no  theological  or  technical  fiction,  as  some  would 
represent  it,  but  deliver  sober  scriptural  doctrine,  which  we 
are  not  only  permitted,  but  required  to  maintain. 

Having  made  these  remarks,  I  now  observe  that  the 
priestly  office  of  Christ  consisted  of  two  parts — 

I.  That  of  expiation: 

H.  That  of  intercession. 

Both  of  these  are  distinctly  noticed  in  the  answer  before 
us,  and  let  us  consider  each  attentively. 

I.  Christ  has  made  expiation  for  sin.  The  catechism  ex- 
presses it  thus, — *' he  once  offered  up  himself  a  sacrifice,  to 
satisfy  divine  justice,  and  reconcile  us  unto  God." 

According  to  this  statement,  the  reason  why  an  expiation 
was  necessary  lay  here, — that  diyine  justice  required  a  satis- 
faction, before  human  guilt  could  be  remitted — I  say  before 
it  could  be  remitted ;  for  among  all  the  impossibilities  that 
can  be  imagined,  none  is  greater  than  that  God  should  deny 


300  LECTURES  ON  THE 

himself;  or  act  contrary  to  one  of  his  essential  attributes, 
which  is  the  same  thing. 

We  presume  not  to  say  indeed,  that  it  was  not  possible  for 
the  Deity  to  provide  for  the  salvation  of  man,  in  any  other 
way  than  precisely  that  which  he  actually  chose.  We  hold 
it  to  be  presumptuous  in  worms  of  the  dust,  thus  to  pronounce 
on  the  resources  and  will  of  the  infinite  Jehovah.  But  we 
do  say  that  justice  is  an  essential  attribute  of  God,  and  that  if 
this  attribute  forbade  the  pardon  of  human  guilt  without  an 
atonement  or  expiation,  we  cannot  otherwise  conceive  than 
that  the  thing  was  strictly  impossible.  And  I  think  the 
scripture  doctrine  clearly  is,  that  the  divine  justice  did  abso- 
lutely forbid  pardon  without  an  atonement.  There  have  in- 
deed been  those  who  have  admitted  the  atonement  of  Christ, 
and  yet  have  chosen  to  say,  that  God  might  have  remitted 
sin  without  an  expiation,  and  without  an  impeachment  of 
any  attribute  of  his  nature.  But  would  it  not  then  follow 
that  the  sufferings  and  death  of  Christ  were,  if  not  an  absolute 
superfluity,  yet  something  that  might  have  been  dispensed 
with?  Now  if  we  consider  how  awful  and  extensive  those 
sufferings  were;  and  if  especially  we  take  into  view  the 
prayer  of  Christ  in  his  agony,  thrice  repeated—"  Father,  if 
it  he  possible,  let  this  cup  pass  from  me,''  it  seems  to  me 
that  we  are  not  at  liberty  to  suppose  that  these  sufferings,  in 
the  actual  circumstances  of  the  case,  were  avoidable,  in  con- 
sistency with  the  divine  honour.  Would  the  God  of  mercy 
have  laid  all  he  did  on  his  only  begotten  and  well  beloved 
Son,  if  it  had  not  been  absolutely  indispensable?  Would  not 
the  Saviour's  prayer  have  been  answered,  had  his  own  con- 
dition "if  it  be  possible,"  been  admissible?  Did  not  the 
Father  virtually  say,  in  not  removing  the  cup, — "it  is  not 
possible ;  the  cup  cannot  be  removed,  and  justice  be  sustain- 
ed." Truly  it  appears  so  to  me. — "Die  he,  or  justice  must." 
Yes — He  died  to  satisfy  Divine  justice,  violated  and  set  at 
nought  by  the  sin  of  man.  The  angels  had  sinned,  and  jus- 
tice drove  them  quick  to  hell :  and  when  man  sinned,  justice 
would  have  lost  its  character— it  would  have  ceased  to  be 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  301 

justice^ — if  it  had  not  demanded  the  same  penalty  for  the  se- 
cond transgression,  which  had  been  equitably  inflicted  for  the 
first.  Justice  did  demand  it,  and  man  must  have  endured 
the  penalty  of  death — eternal  death,  the  denounced  and  stipu- 
lated penalty  of  the  violated  law — if  Christ  had  not  under- 
taken for  him,  borne  the  penalty,  and  satisfied  justice  fully  in 
his  behalf. 

Christ  being  a  person  of  infinite  dignity  and  worth,  his 
awful  and  inconceivable  sufierings,  for  a  short  period,  made 
as  great  a  display;  nay,  I  think  a  much  greater  and  more 
fearful  display  of  justice,  than  if  the  guilty  party  had  been 
immediately  doomed  to  endless  perdition.  This,  therefore, 
was  the  device  of  God  for  saving  man — This  the  astonishing 
undertaking  of  Christ  in  our  behalf.  It  was  not  competent 
to  any  created  being  to  conceive  such  a  plan;  nor  to  propose 
it,  if  it  could  have  been  conceived.  It  had  been  infinite  pre- 
sumption in  any  creature,  to  propose  that  the  eternal  Son  of 
God  should  take  the  law  place  of  a  guilty  worm.  But  with 
God  it  was  competent  both  to  conceive  and  to  execute  this 
device ;  a  device  in  which  all  the  divine  attributes  are  pre- 
served entire,  rendered  perfectly  harmonious,  and  displayed 
more  illustriously  than  in  all  his  other  works. 

The  objections  which  have  been  raised  against  the  equity 
of  inflicting  the  penalty  due  to  sin  on  an  innocent  Saviour, 
and  against  the  propriety  of  his  even  consenting  to  sufler  in 
the  place  of  the  guilty,  have  always,  I  must  say,  appeared  to 
me  perfectly  idle.  The  objections  go  directly  to  subvert 
the  doctrine  of  the  atonement  altogether.  If  established, 
they  would  leave  nothing  that  could  with  propriety  be  called 
an  atonement.  Now  if  no  other  account  could  be  given  of 
the  doctrine  of  substitution,  but  that  it  is  plainly  revealed  in 
scripture,  this  would  be  enough ;  and  we  do  believe  that  thus 
it  is  revealed,  as  the  plan  of  infinite  wisdom  and  mercy  for 
our  salvation.  The  ways  of  God  are,  in  all  cases,  but  imper- 
fectly understood  by  us;  and  when  we  know  from  his  na- 
ture, that  he  can  do  nothing  wrong,  it  ill  becomes  us  to  ob- 
ject against  his  method  of  providing  for  our  salvation,  be- 


302  LECTURES  ON  THE 

cause  we  cannot  perfectly  reconcile  it  to  our  notions  of  pro- 
priety, or  run  an  exact  parallel  between  it  and  the  transac- 
tions which  take  place  among  men.  I  am  of  the  opinion  that 
in  this  transaction  there  was,  indeed,  much  which  was  sui 
generis — of  a  nature  peculiar  to  itself, — and  which  cannot 
have  a  perfect  parallel  in  human  transactions:  And  I  must 
forever  protest  against  trying  a  doctrine  of  pure  and  plain  re- 
velation at  the  bar  of  human  reason.  If  God  has  spoken,  let 
man  be  silent  and  adore.  His  word  we  know  is  perfect  truth, 
however  his  ways  may  be  unsearchable.  Whatever  is  not 
unsearchable,  wants,  as  we  have  heretofore  observed,  one  of 
the  usual  signatures  of  the  ways  of  God.  And  to  set  up  philo- 
sophical reasonings,  in  opposition  to  any  thing  appearing  and 
claiming  to  be  from  God,  is  folly  in  the  abstract.  The  office  of 
reason  and  philosophy  here  is,  to  examine  the  evidence, 
whether  the  claim  be  just.  If  not,  reject  it;  if  it  be,  and  we 
cannot  explain  it,  we  have  only  to  confess  our  ignorance  and 
weakness.     This  is  reason  and  true  philosophy. 

Still  I  think  it  not  difficult  to  answer  most  of  the  cavils  of 
objectors  to  the  doctrine  of  substitution ;  and  this  too,  with- 
out going  much  beyond  their  own  principles — so  far  I  mean 
as  equity  is  concerned.  Since  they  are  so  zealous  for  equity, 
let  them  tell  us  where  would  be  the  equity  of  the  divine  go- 
vernment in  permitting  Christ  to  suffer  the  inconceivable 
torments  he  did  ;  torments  far,  far  beyond  those  of  the  mar- 
tyrs, or  of  any  other  victim  of  human  malice;  for  none  of  them 
swet  blood — Where,  we  ask,  was  the  equity  of  this,  if  he  had 
no  guilt,  either  actual  or  imputed?  Actual  guilt,  they  say 
with  us,  he  had  none.  Imputed  guilt,  we  say,  was  the  cause 
of  his  sufferings.  But  they  affirm  there  was  also  none  of 
this;  and  thus  they  leave  him  to  suffer,  beyond  any  human 
being,  without  guilt,  actual  or  imputed.  Is  this  reconcilable 
with  the  justice  and  equity,  to  say  nothing  of  the  goodness 
and  mercy  of  God? 

Again,  much  is  said  against  the  equity  of  punishing  an  in- 
nocent person,  in  place  of  the  guilty.  We  readily  admit, 
that  to  take  an  innocent  person  by  force,  and  punish  him  for 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  303 

the  guilty,  is  gross  iniquity.  But  does  this  at  all  apply  to 
the  case  before  us?; — The  objectors  themselves  know  that  it 
does  not.  Christ  not  only  consented,  but  voluntarily  chose, 
to  make  himself  a  substitute  in  the  case  contemplated:  and 
when  a  ^resLt  publick  good  is  to  be  produced  by  oflfering  and 
accepting  such  a  substitute,  there  is  nothing  in  justice,  or  in 
any  proper  consideration  or  motive,  to  prevent  it.  Hostages 
are  always  given  and  taken,  on  this  principle.  Surety  for  debt 
rests  precisely  on  the  same  ground — Nay,  the  actions  per- 
formed on  this  principle,  have  been  considered  as  among  the 
most  illustrious  of  all,  in  moral  magnanimity — Such  was  that, 
so  often  alluded  to  on  this  subject,  of  the  prince  of  antiquity, 
who  executed  a  part  of  the  severity  of  a  law  on  himself,  that 
he  might  at  once  preserve  the  law  inviolable,  and  yet  save 
in  part  his  offending  son: 'and  such  is  that  of  all  the  indivi- 
duals who  have  devoted  themselves  to  death  for  the  good  of 
their  country. — How  infinitely  beyond  these,  was  the  act  of 
the  Saviour,  in  devoting  himself  to  temporary  death,  to  deli- 
ver myriads  of  immortal  beings  from  eternal  death. 

Besides,  it  should  be  remembered  that  the  Saviour  had 
such  a  power  over  his  own  life,  as  no  mere  mortal  ever  pos- 
sessed. This  power  over  his  human  life,  he  in  fact  exer- 
cised, not  only  in  laying  it  down,  but  also  in  taking  it  up 
again.  This,  you  will  remember,  he  explicitly  asserts — "  No 
man  taketh  it  from  me,  but  I  lay  it  down  of  myself — I  have 
power  to  lay  it  down,  and  I  have  power  to  take  it  again." 
In  this  respect  no  man  can  be  a  parallel  with  Christ. 

On  the  whole  then,  it  appears  that  there  was  nothing  con- 
trary to  equity,  justice,  or  reason,  in  Christ  making  himself 
a  vicarious  offering  for  sinners,  to  satisfy  divine  justice  in 
their  behalf. 

Consider  now,  that  as  the  priestly  office  of  Christ  excelled 
that  of  others  who  sustained  it,  in  several  particulars  already 
noticed,  so  likewise  in  this,  that  he  was  in  himself,  priest, 
sacrifice,  and  altar,  all  in  one — 

1.  He  acted  as  priest  in  offering  this  sacrifice.  The  scrip- 
ture is  explicit  in  stating,  that  Christ  offered  up  himself.    As 


304  LECTURES  ON  THE 

priest,  he  presented  himself,  as  the  victim  for  sacrifice.  *'  For 
if  the  blood  of  bulls,  and  of  goats,  and  the  ashes  of  a  heifer, 
sprinkling  the  unclean,  sanctifieth  to  the  purifying  of  the 
flesh :  How  much  more  shall  the  blood  of  Christ,  who  through 
the  eternal  Spirit  offered  himself  WVCdQwi  spot  to  God,  purge 
your  consciences  from  dead  works  to  serve  the  living  God.'^ 
2.  Christ, was  the  sacrifice,  as  well  as  the  priest.  "  He  ap- 
peared to  put  away  sin  by  the  sacrifice  of  himself — Even 
Christ  our  passover  is  sacrificed  for  us — Without  shedding  of 
blood  there  is  no  remission."  It  was,  you  will  observe,  the 
human  nature  of  Christ  alone,  which  suffered  in  making  this 
sacrifice.  The  Deity  cannot  suffer;  and  the  divine  nature  in 
Christ  therefore  suffered  nothing.  But  it  is  important  to  re- 
mark, that  both  parts  of  his  human  nature, — his  body  and 
his  soul,  which  were  ultimately  separated  from  each  other, — 
suffered,  and  w^ere  made  a  sacrifice,  in  this  great  transaction. 
Hi?  body  was  subjected  to  great  pain  and  torture.  But  if 
this  alone  had  constituted  his  suffering,  he  would  have  borne 
it,  as  others  have  borne  it,  without  a  complaint.  Indeed  we 
do  not  read  that  he  ever  uttered  a  single  complaint,  in  regard 
to  all  his  bodily  pains,  dreadful  as  they  certainly  were.  The 
sufferings  of  his  soul,  were  those  that  made  him  complain — 
"  My  souly^  he  said,  "  is  exceeding  sorrowful,  even  unto 
death.'^  Those  who,  in  describing  or  contemplating  the  suf- 
ferings of  Christ,  dwell  wholly,  or  chiefly,  on  what  related 
to  his  body,  disregard  the  statement  of  facts  as  given  in  the 
Bible.  A  felt  sense  of  the  desert  of  sin;  the  assaults  of  the 
powers  of  darkness  on  his  holy  soul ;  the  dereliction  of  his 
heavenly  Father,  and  the  inflictions  of  divine  wrath ;  these 
produced  his  agony;  these  his  prayer  and  his  complaint;  these 
his  exclamation — "  My  God !  my  God  !  why  hast  thou  for- 
saken me."  Thus  Christ,  in  his  human  nature,— in  his  body 
and  his  soul — was  made,  as  it  were,  a  burnt  sacrifice  for  sin. 
3.  He  was  the  altar,  as  well  as  the  sacrifice  and  the  priest. 
His  divine  nature  was  the  altar  which  sanctified  the  gift.  It 
sustained  the  human  nature,  which,  but  for  this,  would  have 
sunk,  long  before  it  did — The  divine  nature  sustained  the 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  305 

human,  as  the  imperishable  materials  of  an  altar  sustains  the 
fire,  till  the  sacrifice  is  completed  or  consumed.  And  the 
Saviour  died  voluntarily  at  last.  He  dismissed  his  own  soul 
from  his  body.  When  he  had  endured  all  that  the  law  and 
justice  of  God  required,  he  said,  "  It  is  finished,  and  gave  up 
the  ghost."  The  divine  nature  it  also  was,  that  gave  an  in- 
finite dignity  and  value  to  this  sacrifice  of  Christ;  so  as  to 
render  it  of  complete  efiicacy  to  make  a  full  atonement  for 
the  sins  of  all  his  people. 

Thus,  my  dear  children,  did  our  adorable  Redeemer  make 
an  expiation  for  the  sins  of  men — May  it  be,  that  your  sins 
and  mine  were  there  atoned  for! 

In  consequence  of  this  expiation,  God  is  perfectly  reconcila- 
ble to  guilty  man.  All  the  demands  of  his  justice  are  com- 
pletely satisfied — for  the  sins  of  every  soul  that  in  faith  rests 
for  pardon  on  this  great  atonement,  and  on  this  alone — Here 
is  all  our  hope.  0,  let  us  not  cast  it  from  us!  Now  that 
'^  mercy  and  truth  have  met  together,  righteousness  and 
peace  have  kissed  each  other'^ — now  that  the  way  is  clearly 
open  for  reconciliation  with  God,  shall  we  neglect  to  seek 
reconciliation!  Shall  we  dash  the  cup  of  salvation  from  us! 
God  forbid ! 

II.  The  second  part  of  Christ's  priestly  ofiice  is  intercession. 
*^  He  ever  liveth,"  saith  an  apostle,  *^  to  make  intercession  for 
us."  "We  have  an  advocate  with  the  Father,"  says  another 
apostle,  "  Jesus  Christ  the  righteous."  As  the  priests  daily, 
under  the  Mosaick  dispensation,  ofiered  sacrifices  and  prayers 
for  the  people,  and  as  the  high  priest  once  a  year,  on  the 
great  day  of  atonement,  entered  for  the  same  purpose  into  the 
holy  of  holies;  so  Christ,  after  offering  his  one  perfect  sacri- 
fice for  sin,  has  entered  into  heaven,  there  to  appear  in  the 
presence  of  God,  to  plead  its  efficacy  in  behalf  of  all  his  peo- 
ple ;  and  to  present  their  praj^ers,  perfumed  with  his  merits, 
to  the  eternal  Father.  The  Father  himself,  loves  his  people, 
and  is  infinitely  disposed  to  confer  on  them  every  needful 
good.  But  man  is  a  sinner,  and  to  approach  the  God 
whom  his  sins  have  offended  through  an  intercessor,  is  a  con- 

2q 


306  LECTURES  ON  THE 

stant  recognition  of  a  sinful  character ;  and  as  such,  it  is  an 
order  useful  to  man,  as  well  as  honourable  to  the  majesty  of 
God.  It  also  honours  the  Son  of  God,  as  it  shows  that  all 
which  sinners  receive  is  given  on  his  account;  and  it  likewise 
endears  him  highly  to  all  the  redeemed.  These  purposes  we 
can  perceive  that  it  serves,  and  it  may  answer  other  ends,  at 
present  unknown  to  us. 

Christ  is  a  powerful,  prevalent,  intercessor — He  is  never 
denied.  Here  on  earth  he  could  say  to  his  Father,  "  I  know 
that  thou  hearest  me  always."  Nay,  his  intercession  is  to  be 
regarded  as  the  expression  of  his  own  will;  for  not  only  is  he 
always  one  in  will  with  the  Father,  but  in  virtue  of  what  he 
has  done,  he  has  a  covenant  right  to  express  his  will,  in  re- 
gard to  his  people.  Thus  in  his  last  intercessory  prayer  on 
earth,  (the  best  exemplar  of  his  intercession  in  heaven)  he 
says — "Father,  I  will  that  they  also  whom  thou  hast  given 
me,  be  with  me  where  I  am ;  that  they  may  behold  my  glory 
which  thou  hast  given  me."  He  intercedes  for  the  conver- 
sion of  his  people,  while  they  are  yet  estranged  from  God — 
and  is  answered.  He  intercedes  for  their  restoration,  when 
they  wander — He  intercedes  that  their  faith  may  not  fail,  as 
in  the  case  of  Peter,  to  whom  he  said — "  I  have  prayed  for 
thee  that  thy  faith  fail  not,"  He  intercedes  for  each  of  them 
personally  and  individually;  for  of  "  all  that  the  Father 
hath  given  him  will  he  lose  noneP 

Of  the  precise  mode  or  manner  in  which  the  intercession  of 
Christ  in  heaven  is  carried  on,  we  are  not  informed  in  the  sa- 
cred scriptures;  and  on  every  topick  on  which  scripture  is 
silent,  it  is  best  for  us  to  form  no  decisive  opinion;  although 
we  may  reverently  express  what  appears  to  us  most  probable. 
We  know  that  our  blessed  Saviour  is  glorified  in  body  and  in 
soul,  and  in  this  form  is  set  down  "on  the  right  hand  of  the 
Majesty  on  high :"  And  as  he  used  words  in  his  intercessory 
prayer  on  earth ;  and  employed  them  after  his  resurrection,  in 
his  conversations  with  his  apostles ;  and  after  his  ascension,  in 
addressing  Paul  at  his  conversion — it  has  been  thought  proba- 
ble by  some,  that  his  intercession  before  the  throne  on  high, 


SHORTER    CATECHISM.  307 

may,  on  certain  occasions  at  least,  be  made  in  words.  How- 
ever this  may  be — and  very  eminent  men  have  been  divided 
in  opinion  on  the  subject — it  is  agreed  on  all  hands,  that  his 
appearance  in  heaven,  in  that  body  in  which  he  suffered  on 
earth  for  his  people,  is  virtually  a  perpetual  intercession  with 
the  Father,  in  their  behalf.  It  is  expressly  declared  in  scrip- 
ture, that  "  Christ  is  entered  into  heaven  itself,  now  to  appear 
in  the  presence  of  God  for  us:"  and  the  presence  there  of 
that  glorified  body  in  which  remain  the  prints  of  the  nails  and 
the  spear,  and  of  that  sacred  head  which  was  crowned  with 
thorns,  and  of  those  holy  lips  which  expressed  his  agony  in 
the  garden  and  on  the  cross — the  very  presence  of  these, 
speaks  and  pleads  beyond  all  the  eloquence  of  words,  whether 
of  men  or  of  angels.  An  illustration  of  this  from  a  historical 
fact  is  given  by  Doddridge,  in  his  sermon  on  the  intercession 
of  Christ,  in  the  following  passage : 

"  Now  this  appearance  of  Christ  in  heaven,  which  is  ex- 
pressed by  his  standing  in  the  midst  of  the  throne^  as  a 
lamb  that  had  been  slain,  may  properly  be  called  a  virtual 
intercession.  There  is  a  language  in  that  circumstance,  more 
forcible  than  in  any  words  that  we  can  imagine.  This  is 
happily  illustrated  by  the  pious  Mr.  Flavel,  by  the  story  of 
Amyntas  and  jEschylus,  as  ^lian  relates  it.  ^schylus  was 
condemned  to  death  by  the  Athenians,  and  was  just  going  to 
be  led  to  execution.  His  brother  Amyntas  had  signalized 
himself  in  the  service  of  his  country ;  and  on  the  day  of  a 
most  illustrious  victory,  in  a  great  measure  obtained  by  his 
means,  had  lost  his  hand.  He  came  into  the  court  just  as  his 
brother  was  condemned,  and  without  saying  any  thing,  drew 
the  stump  of  his  arm  from  under  his  garment,  and  held  it  up 
in  their  sight;  and  the  historian  tells  us,  ^that  when  the 
judges  saw  this  mark  of  his  sufferings,  they  remembered  what 
he  had  done,  and  discharged  his  brother,  though  he  had  for- 
feited his  life.'  Thus  does  Christ,  our  dear  elder  brother, 
silently,  but  powerfully,  plead  for  our  forfeited  lives:  And 
such  is  the  happy  consequence.  His  Father  looks  on  the 
marks  of  his  sufferings,  and  remembers  what  he  has  done;  and 


308  LECTURES  ON  THE 

in  this  sense  His  blood  is  continually  speaking  better 
things  than  the  blood  of  Abel.  We  have  an  advocate  with 
the  Father,  who  is  also  the  propitiation  for  our  sins." 

You  may  perhaps  be  ready  to  think  that  this  illustration  is 
hardly  suitable  to  the  subject  of  Christ's  intercession;  and 
truly  there  is  no  transaction  among  men  that  can  pretend  to 
compare  with  it,  either  in  dignity  or  interest.  But  the  in- 
spired penmen  themselves,  do  not  hesitate  to  illustrate  hea- 
venly things  by  those  which  are  earthly.  And  the  conde- 
scension of  God,  in  thus  accommodating  himself  to  our  capa- 
cities  and  apprehensions,  only  makes  a  more  powerful  de- 
mand on  our  admiration  and  love.  No  thought  can  be  more 
interesting  and  delightful  to  an  humble  and  self  emptied  sinner, 
than  that  he  has  in  heaven  a  friend,  an  advocate,  an  interces- 
sor, who  is  "touched  with  the  feeling  of  his  infirmities;" 
who  knows,  better  than  he  knows  himself,  all  his  desires  and 
perplexities;  and  who  will  make  efiectual  prayer  of  every 
petition  that  he  offers,  before  the  throne  of  God  on  high. 

From  a  consideration  of  the  priestly  office  of  Christ,  let  me 
exhort  you — 1.  To  reflect  seriously  on  the  evil  of  sin.  Who 
can  estimate  the  intrinsick  malignity  and  ill  desert  of  that 
evil,  for  which  divine  justice  could  not  be  satisfied,  but  by  an 
expiation  which  required,  in  order  to  its  being  made,  the  in- 
conceivable sufferings  and  ignominious  death  of  the  Son  of 
God  himself?  And  0  my  young  friends!  if  "these  things 
were  done  in  the  green  tree,  what  shall  be  done  in  the  dry!" 
If  the  immaculate  Saviour  suffered  as  he  did,  only  when 
standing  in  place  of  the  guilty,  how  will  the  soul  of  the  sin- 
ner himself  suffer,  when  divine  justice  shall  exact  from  him 
its  full  demand,  for  all  his  personal  transgressions !  And  this 
exaction  will  surely  be  made,  of  every  sinner  who  dies  with- 
out a  personal  interest  in  that  great  atonement  which  Christ 
Jesus  has  made— made  for  the  benefit  of  those — and  those 
only — who  by  faith  are  united  to  him,  before  the  day  of  grace 
is  forever  closed  by  death.  You  are  by  nature  and  by  prac- 
tice sinners;  and  from  each  of  you  personally,  this  exaction 
will  be  made,  if  not  prevented  by  a  flight  to  Christ,  and  a  re- 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  309 

liance  on  his  merits  alone  for  pardon  and  salvation.  Fidelity 
to  your  souls  and  my  own,  requires  that  I  plainly  warn,  as 
now  I  do,  those  of  you  who  have  not  yet  embraced  the  Sa- 
viour, that  the  accumulated  guilt  of  all  their  transgressions 
rests  upon  them;  and  that  if  not  speedily  removed  by  the  aton- 
ing blood  of  Christ,  it  will  press  them  down  to  a  perdition 
hopeless  and  eternal.     Therefore 

2.  Be  urged  to  make  no  delay  in  availing  yourselves  of  that 
merciful  provision,  which  a  gracious  God  has  made  for  your 
deliverance  from  all  the  consequences  of  sin ;  and  to  raise  you 
to  all  the  happiness  and  the  glory,  which  the  once  suffering 
but  now  exalted  Redeemer  will  bestow,  on  all  those  whom  he 
has  bought  with  his  precious  blood.  The  priestly  office  of 
Christ  is  full  of  terror,  as  you  have  seen,  on  the  one  hand; 
but  it  is  equally  full  of  persuasion  and  encouragement,  on  the 
other.  By  that  one  offering  which  the  Lord  Jesus  has  made 
of  himself,  he  has  opened  the  way  for  the  verj^  chief  of  sin- 
ners to  return  to  God,  with  an  assurance  that,  for  the  sake  of 
the  atoning  and  interceding  Saviour,  all  their  offences  shall 
be  freely  cancelled ;  and  all  the  blessings  and  benefits  of  his 
purchase  be  made  over  to  them.  What  an  encouragement  is 
here  to  press  into  the  kingdom  of  God!  For  the  guilty  and 
condemned,  an  all-sufficient  surety  is  provided,  who  invites, 
and  urges,  and  commands  them  to  come  to  him,  and  receive, 
as  his  free  gift,  pardon,  salvation  and  eternal  life.  He  stands 
before  the  throne  of  the  Sovereign  of  heaven  and  earth,  whose 
justice  he  has  fully  satisfied,  to  plead  his  own  merits,  in  behalf 
of  every  penitent  and  returning  sinner.  His  intercession 
makes  effectual  prayer  of  every  petition  which  they  believing- 
ly  offer  in  his  name.  O  confess  your  sins,  with  a  sincere  and 
contrite  heart! — Take  to  yourselves  the  charge  of  guilt  with 
all  its  aggravations,  and  without  attempting  palliation.  You 
are  completely  guilty,  and  entirely  undone  in  yourselves. 
But  there  is  a  complete  salvation  provided  for  you  in  Christ. 
Renounce  your  own  righteousness  with  abhorrence,  and  with 
gratitude  unspeakable,  accept  of  his.  Send  up  your  cries 
through  his  prevalent  intercession,  for  the  Holy  Spirit,  to 


310  LECTURES  ON  THE 

renew  you  in  the  temper  of  your  minds;  to  work  in  your 
hearts  that  faith  which  shall  form  an  indissoluble  bond  of 
union  between  him  and  your  souls;  and  ensure  to  you  ere 
long,  an  admission  to  his  blissful  presence  in  the  mansions  of 
eternal  purity  and  peace,     tdmen. 


LECTURE  XXIII. 

How  doth  Christ  execute  the  office  of  a  King? 

'^^  Christ  executeth  the  oiGfice  of  a  king,  in  subduing  us  to 
himself,  in  ruling  and  defending  us,  and  in  restraining  and 
conquering  all  his  and  our  enemies." 

I  have  heretofore  had  occasion  to  show,  that  the  kingly 
office  of  Christ  is  plainly  taught  in  the  holy  scripture.  To 
this  office  he  was  ordained,  or  appointed,  even  from  everlast- 
ing. It  is  the  general  opinion  of  orthodox  divines,  that  to 
him  the  personification  of  wisdom  refers,  which  we  find  in 
the  8th  chapter  of  the  book  of  Proverbs;  where  it  is  said — 
'f  I  was  set  up  from  everlasting,  from  the  beginning,  or  ever 
the  earth  was."  It  is  clearly  the  doctrine  of  scripture,  that 
the  universe  was  created  by  Christ,  and  for  him ;  and  that  he 
is  made  "  head  over  all  things  to  the  church."  "  By  him 
(says  the  apostle)  were  all  things  created  that  are  in  heaven, 
and  that  are  in  earth,  visible  and  invisible,  whether  they  be 
thrones  or  dominions,  or  principalities,  or  powers;  all  things 
were  created  by  him,  and  for  him;  And  he  is  before  all 
things,  and  by  him  all  things  consist:  And  he  is  the  head  of 
the  body  the  church." 

Thus  it  appears  that  Christ  Jesus  is  the  sovereign  Lord  of 
creation,  and  exercises  his  dominion  with  a  special  reference 
to  his  church  and  people.  From  the  nature  of  the  case,  he 
could  not  exercise  his  kingly  office  as  a  part  of  his  mediato- 
rial character  and  work,  till  after  the  fall  of  our  first  parents. 
Till  there  were  sinners  and  rebels  against  God,  there  was  no 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  311 

room  for  the  functions  of  a  Mediator.  But  immediately  after 
the  fall,  the  kingly  office  of  Christ,  as  mediator  between  God 
and  man,  began  to  be  exercised.  The  promise  was  then 
made,  that  the  seed  of  the  woman  should  bruise  the  serpent's 
head — a  promise  to  be  fulfilled  in  the  exercise  of  divine  and 
sovereign  power,  which  was  to  be  manifested  by  Christ,  as 
the  king  of  his  church. 

The  throne  of  this  mighty  potentate, — this  King  of  Zion, 
— is  in  heaven.  The  Lamb  that  "  is  in  the  Trtidst  of  the 
throne,  (says  St.  John  speaking  of  heaven)  shall  feed  his  peo- 
ple, and  shall  lead  them  unto  living  fountains  of  waters." 
This  is  now  a  throne  of  grace  to  his  people,  to  which  they 
are  invited  to  approach  with  a  holy  boldness,  "  that  they 
may  obtain  mercy,  and  find  grace  to  help  in  time  of  need.'* 
This  throne,  at  the  consummation  of  all  things,  shall  be 
placed  in  the  visible  aerial  heavens; — it  shall  be  set  as  a 
throne  of  judgment  for  angels  and  men,  and  they  shall  stand 
before  it,  to  receive  from  Christ  the  award  of  life  or  death 
eternal. 

Even  now,  the  king  of  Zion  sways  his  sceptre  with  resist- 
less efiicacy,  both  over  his  friends  and  foes.  The  gospel  is 
the  sceptre  of  his  grace,  which,  accompanied  by  the  power  of 
his  Spirit,  is  made  efiectual,  first  to  gather,  and  afterwards  to 
guide  and  govern,  his  own  people.  The  power  of  his  anger 
is  that  won  sceptre  whereby  he  dashes  his  enemies  in  pieces, 
and  destroys  all  those  who  inflexibly  refuse  his  grace.  He  is 
called  in  scripture  the  "  Lord  of  hosts,"  and  all  the  armies  in 
heaven,  whether  saints  or  angels,  obey  his  commands.  Nay, 
Satan  and  all  his  host,  are  not  only  perfectly  under  his  con- 
trol, but  are  the  executioners  of  his  wrath  on  the  wicked  of 
this  world,  who  will  not  have  him  to  reign  over  them.  Satan 
is  permitted  (and  he  only  waits  for  the  permission)  to  inflict 
on  them  the  judgments  which  their  crimes  invoke.  At  the 
bidding  of  the  King  of  Zion,  too,  the  elements  of  nature,  or 
the  meanest  of  the  animal  or  reptile  tribes,  become  the 
scourges  of  mankind. 

Christ  also  receives  a  continual  tribute  of  voluntary  praise. 


312  LECTURES  ON  THE 

honour  and  glory,  from  the  saints  on  earth,  and  from  both 
saints  and  angels  in  heaven:  And  he  levies  a  tribute  of  un- 
willing praise,  even  on  his  enemies:  He  maketh  the  wrath 
of  man  to  praise  him,  and  the  remainder  of  that  wrath  he  re- 
trains. 

The  King  of  Zion  has  sometimes  made  his  angels  his  am- 
bassadors. "  They  delight  to  do  his  will — They  are  all  min- 
istering spirits,  sent  forth  to  minister  for  them  that  shall  be 
heirs  of  salvation."  How  much  we  owe  to  their  invisible 
agency,  we  cannot  tell.  Both  under  the  old  and  the  new 
dispensation,  they  went  on  many  errands  of  importance,  in 
the  administration  of  the  kingdoms  of  providence  and  grace: 
And  as  they  are  represented  as  conveying  the  departed  spirit 
of  Lazarus  to  Abraham's  bosom,  it  is  reasonable  to  believe 
that  they  act  as  a  guard  and  convoy  to  heaven,  of  other  de- 
parted spirits  of  the  just. 

Angels,  nevertheless,  are  not  the  ordinary  ambassadors  of 
Christ,  in  his  kingdom  of  grace  in  our  w^orld.  Not  only 
would  their  appearance  be  terrifying,  but  not  sharing  in  the 
feelings  and  infirmities  of  human  nature,  they  would  not 
know  the  wants  of  man  by  experience,  nor  sympathise  with 
him  in  his  afflictions,  like  one  of  his  own  kind.  In  addition 
to  this,  the  thought  is  suggested  by  inspiration,  that  the  praise 
will  more  manifestly  be  all  given  to  God,  when  his  ambassa- 
dors are  weak  and  imperfect  men  themselves,  like  those  ta 
whom  they  are  sent.  "  We  have  this  treasure  in  earthen 
vessels,  that  the  excellency  of  the  power  may  be  of  God,  and 
not  of  us.''  For  these  reasons,  when  the  King  of  Zion  as- 
cended on  high,  led  captivity  captive,  and  gave  gifts  unto 
men,  "  he  gave  some  apostles,  and  some  prophets,  and  some 
evangelists,  and  some  pastors  and  teachers ;  for  the  perfecting 
of  the  saints,  for  the  work  of  the  ministry,  for  the  edifying  of 
the  body  of  Christ— Now,  then,  we  are  ambassadors  for 
Christ  as  though  God  did  beseech  you  by  us,  we  pray  you  in 
Christ's  stead,  be  ye  reconciled  to  God"— I  must  here  mag- 
nify my  office.  I  should  fail  in  my  duty  to  you,  my  children, 
if  I  did  not  teach  you  to  regard  every  faithful  and  consistent 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  313 

minister  of  the  gospel,  in  the  performance  of  his  official 
duties,  as  an  ambassador  of  the  King  of  Zion.  Such  he  un- 
questionably is;  and  you  are  bound  to  regard  his  messages 
and  warnings,  as  those  of  the  Saviour  in  whose  name  he 
speaks. 

Having  now  disposed  of  some  detached,  but  important  cir- 
cumstances and  considerations,  relative  to  the  kingly  office 
of  Christ,  ]et  us  briefly  consider  the  several  clauses  of  the  an-' 
swer  before  us,  distinctly  and  in  order. 

1.  Christ,  as  a  king,  subdues  his  people  to  himself.  He 
finds  them,  like  the  rest  of  the  world,  lying  in  wickedness, 
the  captives  of  Satan  and  the  slaves  of  sin, — in  bondage 
to  both.  He  delivers  them  by  the  instrumentality  of  his 
word,  applied  by  the  power  of  his  Spirit — The  word  of  God 
is  the  sword  of  the  Spirit.  The  Spirit  of  Christ,  there- 
fore, is  the  agent,  and  divine  truth  the  instrument,  in  the  con- 
version of  sinners.  No  other  instrument  is  irtimediately 
used,  but  divine  truth;  and  no  agent  can  render  that  truth 
savingly  efficacious,  but  the  Holy  Spirit.  Hence  those  two 
remarkable  passages  of  scripture,  relative  to  the  regeneration 
or  conversion  of  the  saints — "  Born  again,  not  of  corruptible 
seed,  but  of  incorruptible;  by  the  word  of  God,  which  liveth 
and  abideth  forever — which  were  born,  not  of  blood,  nor  of 
the  will  of  the  flesh,  nor  of  the  will  of  man,  but  of  God. "^^  In 
the  first  of  these  passages,  you  observe  that  the  word  of  God 
is  the  seed,  or  instrumental  cause  of  regeneration;  in  the 
second,  after  setting  aside  all  human  agency,  God  himself  is 
represented  as  Me  efficient  cause,  or  agent  in  this  great  work. 
The  Spirit  of  Christ  then— of  Christ  as  the  great  king  and 
head  of  his  church — using  the  word  of  God,  as  the  sword  in 
his  hand,  subdues  his  people  to  himself.  They  are  made  "a 
willing  people  in  the  day  of  his  power." 

The  will  is  principally  concerned  in  this  work — The  peo- 
ple of  Christ  are  not  treated  as  machines:  They  are  not 
driven  into  his  kingdom.  They  are  rendered  willing;  and 
they  never  act  more  willingly,  nor  with  greater  freedom, 
than  when  they  become  his  subjects.     He  sweetly  bows  their 

2r 


314  LECTURES    ON  THE 

wills,  and  draws  their  affections  from  obedience  and  attach- 
ment to  sin  and  Satan,  to  supreme  love  to  himself,  and  a  pre- 
valent regard  to  all  his  requisitions.  Thus  they  are  chan^ifed, 
and  the  bias  and  current  of  their  souls  is  altered— from  rebel- 
lion to  obedience;  from  sin  to  holiness.  They  now  are  sub- 
dued to  Christ,  by  the  soft,  but  resistless  energy  of  his  grace. 
They  "are  translated  out  of  the  kingdom  of  Satan,  into 
the  kingdom  of  God's  dear  Son  :"  And  although  they  re- 
main still  in  the  world,  yet  they  are  not  of  the  world,  but 
true  and  lively  members  of  Christ's  invisible  kingdom; 
and  therefore  the  subjects  of  hatred  with  the  devoted  friends 
of  the  world,  because  different  from  them  in  temper  and 
pursuit. 

Every  subject  of  Christ's  kingdom,  puts  forth  the  acts  of 
a  justifying  saving  faith,  as  one  of  the  first  fruits  and  exer- 
cises of  that  grace  which  his  Spirit  implants.  Action  presup- 
poses an  agent: — Saving  faith  is  the  act  or  exercise  of  a  new 
nature,  which  must  therefore  exist  before  faith  can  be  exer- 
cised. Yet  as  this  nature  acts  as  soon  as  it  exists,  and  acts  in 
the  exercise  of  faith,  we  are  no  more  obliged  to  separate  re- 
generation from  faith,  than  to  separate  any  other  cause  from 
its  necessary  and  invariable  effect — where  you  find  the  one, 
you  will  certainly  find  the  other.  In  the  present  case,  it  is 
that  faith  which  flows  from  a  renewed  heart  which  embraces 
the  offered  Saviour,  and  insures  to  its  possessor  all  the  bene- 
fits of  his  purchase.  By  faith,  wrought  in  the  heart  and 
drawn  into  exercise  by  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  he  applies  to  the 
soul  of  each  of  his  subjects  the  whole  of  his  satisfaction  and 
benefits.  In  virtue  of  this  application,  all  demands  of  law 
and  justice  are  answered  fully; — the  happy  subject  of  it  re- 
ceives the  complete  pardon  of  sin;  the  spirit  of  adoption, 
whereby  the  law  of  God  is  obeyed  from  a  principle  of  love; 
vietory  over  the  world ;  and  eventually  over  the  last  enemy, 
death. 

2.  The  answer  before  us  states  that  when  Christ,  as  a  king, 
has  subdued  his  people  to  himself,  he  afterw^ards  "  rules  and 
defends  them." 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  315 

Christ's  kins:c]om  is  not  of  this  world.  The  subjects  of  it 
are  not  absolved  from  their  obedience  to  earthly  magistrates, 
but  enjoined  to  render  it  as  a  part  of  Christian  duty — There 
is  but  one  exception  to  this,  and  that  is,  when  the  civil  ruler 
requires  that  which  is  directly  contrary  to  the  laws  of  Christy 
in  which  case  we  must  obey  God  rather  than  man,  though 
life  itself  be  the  forfeiture.  On  this  principle,  all  the  real 
martyrs  of  the  Christian  faith  have  suffered  death. 

Christ  as  a  king;,  rules  his  people  by  his  laws;  by  which 
we  are  to  understand  his  moral  laws,  a  summary  of  which  we 
have  in  the  decaloo;ue,  or  ten  commandments.  In  keeping 
of  these  commandments,  his  people  have  a  great  reward,  even 
at  present.  Christ  writes  these  laws  in  their  hearts,  and  puts 
them  (as  the  scripture  expresses  it)  "  in  their  inward  parts." 
They  really  love  these  laws;  and  obedience  to  them  is  not 
only  sweet  and  delightful  in  itself,  but  it  also  secures  the  tes- 
timony of  a  good  conscience  toward  God  :  For  Christ  has 
satisfied  the  moral  law  for  his  people,  as  a  covenant  of  works; 
and  he  gives  it  out  to  them  only  as  a  rule  of  life;  by  which 
when  they  conscientiously  walk,  they  have  confidence  to- 
ward God,  notwithstanding  the  imperfection  which  cleaves 
to  all  they  do. 

Christ  rules  in  the  hearts  of  his  people,  by  conquering  their 
corruptions  for  them,  and  by  the  grace  of  his  Holy  Spirit, 
sweetly  conforming  their  wills  to  his  own  blessed  will;  and 
by  invigorating,  sustaining  and  quickening  all  their  graces. 

Christ  as  a  king,  gives  laws  to  his  church  as  a  community 
—of  which  all  his  people  are  members.  No  man,  or  body 
of  men,  has  any  authority  to  enact  a  single  law,  rite  or  cere- 
mony, for  the  church  of  Christ.  He  is  himself  the  only  law- 
giver, and  men  are  only  the  executors  of  his  laws.  But  when 
the  laws  of  Christ  for  his  church  are  faithfully  executed,  in 
the  due  administration  of  discipline — however  a  profane  and 
ungodly  generation  may  scorn  or  deride  it — they  are  infinitely- 
more  dreadful  than  any  civil  penalties.  What  his  officers  thus 
bind  in  his  name  on  earth,  he  binds  in  heaven. 

Christ  as  a  king  directs  and  corrects  his  people,  by  his  pro- 


^16  LECTURES  ON  THE 

vidential  dispensations.  Their  whole  lot  in  life,  whether  in 
wealth  or  poverty,  in  prosperity  or  adversity,  in  honour  or  dis- 
honour, in  joy  or  in  sorrow,  is  ordered  by  him.  He  marks  all 
their  path,  and  directs  all  that  befals  them ;  and  he  will  assured- 
ly make  all  things  work  together  for  their  good.  He  chastens 
or  corrects  them  in  covenant  faithfulness.  When  they  wan- 
der from  him,  or  are  disobedient  to  him,  his  chastising  rod 
is  laid  upon  them,  to  restore  them  to  duty  and  to  comfort. 
Even  for  the  improvement  of  their  graces,  and  their  general 
sanctification  and  progress  in  the  divine  life,  chastisement  is 
frequently  the  mean  employed.  ^'  Wliom  the  Lord  loveth 
he  chasteneth,  and  scourgeth  every  son  whom  he  receiveth.^^ 
But  while  the  Lord  corrects,  he  upholds  his  people,  and  often 
renders  the  seasons  of  their  affliction,  the  times  of  the  sweetest 
spiritual  consolation  to  their  souls. 

Christ  as  a  king  defends  his  people.  They  are  ever  their 
own  most  dangerous  enemies.  Soon  would  they  become  the 
prey  of  their  own  mistakes,  perverseness  and  corruption,  if 
he,  by  his  providence  and  grace,  did  not  defend  them.  But 
by  his  providence  he  crosses  those  designs  that  would  injure 
or  ruin  them,  if  they  were  not  disappointed  and  defeated. 
By  his  grace,  he  keeps  >^  alive  within  them  the  spark  of  holy 
fire,  in  the  midst  of  an  ocean  of  corruption;"  nay,  he  in- 
creases and  kindles  it,  till  it  dries  up,  or  consumes,  all  that 
opposes  it.  Christ  also  defends  his  people  against  ungodly 
men,  and  the  powers  of  darkness.     This  introduces  the 

3d  and  last  clause  of  the  answer  before  us — "  He  restrains 
and  conquers,  all  his  and  their  enemies."  Christ  has  identi- 
fied himself  with  his  people:  They  compose  but  one  body, 
of  which  he  is  the  head,  and  the)^  are  the  members;  and 
therefore  they  have  of  course  the  same  friends  and  the  same 
foes.  This  afibrds  to  his  subjects  the  most  consolatory  assu- 
rance of  perfect  protection :  For  their  Redeemer  and  Sove- 
reign is  the  mighty  God  of  Jacob,  and  while  he  reigns  they 
must  be  safe — "  If  God  be  for  us,  who  can  be  against  us !" 

Because  the  people  of  Christ  "  are  not  of  the  world,  there- 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  317 

fore  the  world  hateth  them/'  Persecution,  in  one  form  or 
another,  every  truly  loyal  subject  of  the  king  of  Zion  will 
receive  from  ungodly  men.  But  their  Sovereign  holds  these 
men  perfectly  in  his  hand,  and  restrains,  and  bounds,  and  de- 
feats their  rasre,  at  his  pleasure.  Their  power,  their  swords, 
their  tong;ues,  their  efforts,  are  all  subject  to  his  control.  He 
will  not  permit  them  to  do  his  people  any  real  injury.  They 
shall  live  while  Christ  has  work  for  them  to  do;  they  shall 
suffer  no  more  than  he  pleases  to  permit;  all  that  they  do  suf- 
fer shall  moreover  but  brighten  their  eternal  crown;  and 
death  itseif  shall  but  bring  them  to  his  immediate  and  blissful 
presence.  Over  death  he  has  himself  triumphed,  and  this 
last  enemy  he  enables  them  also  to  vanquish.  Often  they 
expire  with  the  conqueror's  song — "  0  death  where  is  thy 
sting !  0  rrrave  where  is  thy  victory  !  Thanks  be  to  God  who 
giveth  us  the  victory  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 

Christ  as  king,  especially  restrains  and  bounds  the  malice 
of  Satan,  and  all  the  infernal  powers.  But  for  this  restraint 
they  would  speedily  destroy  his  subjects;  for  his  subjects  are, 
in  themselves  weak,  and  their  enemies  are  strong.  The  ad- 
versary of  souls  had  power  and  subtilty  sufficient  to  destroy 
sinless  man  in  paradise.  But  man  then  stood  in  his  own 
strength.  Now  every  Christian,  even  the  weakest,  is  under 
the  protection  of  the  Lord  Jesus;  and  therefore,  with  all  his 
imperfections,  he  is  safe.  Christ  will  keep  him.  The  adver- 
sary cannot  go  beyond  his  chain — He  may  tempt  but  he  can- 
not compel.  He  may  threaten  but  he  cannot  injure.  He 
may  terrify,  but  he  cannot  destroy.  He  is  a  conquered  ene- 
my, and  every  saint  shall  triumph  over  him. 

But  it  is  pleasing  to  think  of  the  conquests  which  the  king 
of  Zion  is  yet  to  make,  by  the  influence  of  his  Spirit  and 
grace,  in  our  guilty  world.  The  empire  of  Satan,  since  the 
fall  of  man,  has  been  extensive  indeed,  and  so  it  continues 
still.  But  the  period  is  advancing — perhaps  it  is  not  far  dis- 
tant— when  Satan  is  to  be  bound,  and  to  deceive  the  nations 
no  more  for  a  thousand  years.     Then  shall  the  king  of  Zion 


318  LECTURES  OxV  THE 

extend  his  peaceful  and  heavenly  reig;n  throughout  the  earth. 
Nations  shall  be  born  in  a  day — The  world  shall  own  its 
Lord  and  Saviour,  from  the  rising  to  the  setting  sun — 

"  Swift  fly  the  years,  and  rise  the  expected  morn ! 
Oh  spring  to  hght,  auspicious  day,  be  born! 

Rise,  crown'd  with  light,  imperial  Salem,  rise  ! 

Exalt  thy  towery  head,  and  lift  thy  eyes! 

See  a  long  race  thy  spacious  courts  adorn  3 

See  future  sons,  and  daughters  yet  unborn,  • 

In  crowding  ranks  on  every  side  arise, 

Demanding  life,  impatient  for  the  skies! 

See  barbarous  nations  at  thy  gates  attend. 

Walk  in  thy  light,  and  in  thy  temple  bend  ; 

See  thy  bright  altars  throng'd  with  prostrate  kings, 

And  heap'd  with  products  of  Sabsean  springs ! 

For  thee  Idume's  spicy  forests  blow, 

And  seeds  of  gold  in  Ophir's  mountains  glo'v. 

See  heaven  its  sparkling  portals  wide  display. 

And  break  upon  thee  in  a  flood  of  day ! 

No  more  the  rising  sun  shall  gild  the  morn, 

Nor  evening  Cynthia  fill  her  silver  horn ; 

But  lost,  dissolved  in  thy  superior  rays, 

One  tide  of  glory,  one  unclouded  blaze 

O'erflow  thy  courts :  the  Light  himself  shall  shine 

Reveal'djand  God's  eternal  day  be  thine! 

The  seas  shall  waste,  the  skies  in  smoke  decay, 

Rocks  fall  to  dust,  and  mountains  melt  away  ; 

But  fix'd  his  word,  his  saving  power  remains  ; 

Thy  realm  for  ever  lasts, thy  own  Messiah  reigns!'* 

My  dear  children — Make  this  king  of  Zion  your  friend,  by 
sweetly  submitting  to  the  sceptre  of  his  grace.  Then  shall 
you  not  only  behold^  but  be  partakers  of  all  his  glory.  Amen. 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  319 


LECTURE  XXIV. 

iVherein  did  Chris fs  humiliation  consist? 

"  Christ's  humiliation  consisted  in  his  being  born,  and 
that  in  a  low  condition,  made  under  the  law,  undergoing  the 
miseries  of  this  life,  the  wrath  of  God  and  the  cursed  death 
of  the  cross;  in  being  buried,  and  continuing  under  the  power 
of  death  for  a  time." 

Christ's  humiliation,  in  general,  consisted  in  his  conde- 
scending to  have  that  glory  which  he  had  with  the  Father 
before  the  world  was,  veiled  for  a  time;  by  his  coming  into 
this  lower  world  "in  the  likeness  of  sinful  flesh,"  to  be  **a 
man  of  sorrows  and  acquainted  with  grief."  You  will  be 
careful  to  observe,  that  this  humiliation  was,  in  the  highest 
degree  voluntary,  on  the  part  of  Christ — He  yielded  to  it  by- 
no  constraint.  It  had  no  other  source  but  his  own,  and  the 
eternal  Father's  self-moved  undeserved  love,  to  lost  man- 
kind. 

Let  us  now  consider  the  several  steps  of  Christ's  humilia- 
tion, as  they  are  mentioned  in  the  answer.  "  He  was  born, 
and  that  in  a  low  condition."  It  had  been  an  unparalleled 
condescension  in  Christ,  to  assume  our  nature  in  any  imagi- 
nable circumstances.  How  astonishing  the  stoop  for  him 
who  was  the  eternal  Son  of  God,  happ}^  in  the  bosom  of  the 
Father,  the  Creator  and  the  Lord  of  all  the  angelick  host,  and 
receiving  their  profoundest  homage — to  become  the  Son  of 
man,  and  be  made,  as  to  his  human  nature,  of  a  woman! 
Had  he  made  his  entrance  into  our  world  with  all  the  state, 
and  pomp,  and  splendour  of  royalty,  that  condescension  had 
still  been  ineffable.  But  how  are  we  to  conceive  of  it,  when, 
in  place  of  external  grandeur  and  respect,  we  consider  the 
low  condition  in  which  he  was  actually  born  !     His  mother, 


320  LECTURES  ON  THE 

and  his  reputed  father  were  both,  it  is  true,  of  the  most 
honourable  descent — They  traced  their  lineage  to  David  and 
to  Abraham ;  and  the  genealogy  of  Christ,  according  to  the 
flesh,  is  particularly  recorded  in  the  New  Testament,  to 
show  that  the  promises  of  God  to  those  ancient  saints,  that 
the  Messiah  should  proceed  from  them,  had  been  strictly  and 
remarkably  fulfilled.  But  at  the  time  of  our  Redeemer's 
birth,  his  mother,  although  of  royal  ancestry,  was  reduced  to 
such  a  state  of  obscurity  and  poverty,  that  in  nature's  most 
trying  hour,  she  could  procure  no  admission  to  an  inn.  With 
the  cattle  of  the  stall  she  was  obliged  to  seek  a  refuge.  The 
Son  of  God  was  born  in  a  stable,  and  laid  in  a  manger — 
There  it  was  that  he  who  made  the  worlds,  became  an  infant 
of  days! — That  he  whose  arm  upholds  the  universe,  was 
wrapped  in  swaddling  bands!  This  was  humiliation  indeed. 
While  this  is  recollected,  never  let  a  poor  disciple  of  Jesus 
either  blush  or  complain.  Thus  low  did  the  Redeemer 
stoop,  to  lift  up  sinners  out  of  the  horrible  pit  and  the  miry 
clay,  into  which  their  sins  had  plunged  them.  How  can  we 
proceed,  without  stopping,  for  a  moment,  to  admire  "  the 
grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who,  though  he  was  rich, 
yet  for  our  sakes,  became  poor,  that  we  through  his  poverty 
might  be  made  rich" — that  we  by  faith  might  claim  a  relation 
to  him  as  our  kinsman  Redeemer,  and  say,  "  unto  us  a  child 
is  born,  unto  us  a  Son  is  given — he  is  our  Immanuel,  God 
WITH  us  !" 

Our  Redeemer,  it  appears,  was  subject  to  his  parents  ac- 
cording to  the  flesh,  during  the  whole  period  of  his  minority. 
He  was  bred  to  a  laborious  occupation.  He  was  called  the 
carpenter,  and  the  carpenter's  son.  Let  honest  industry  never 
be  ashamed  of  its  toils,  for  it  is  employed  only  as  the  Re- 
deemer of  the  world  has  set  the  example. 

But  the  answer  states  that  another  part  of  our  Lord's  hu- 
miliation was,  that  "he  was  made  under  the  law."  The  law, 
here  principally  referred  to,  was  certainly  the  moral  law. 
Christ  indeed  yielded  obedience  to  all  the  divine  institutions, 
ceremonial  and  political,  as  well  as  moral;  because  the  former 


SHORTER    CATECHISM.  321 

of  these,  while  they  lasted,  had  the  same  author  as  the  latter, 
and  were  therefore  equally  obligatory ;  and  he  declared  to 
his  forerunner  that  it  became  him  to  fulfil  all  righteousness. 
But  the  ceremonial  and  political  institutions  of  the  Jews  were, 
temporary  ;  the  moral  law,  on  the  contrary,  is  of  eternal  and 
unceasing  obligation.  It  was  to  this  that  he  was  made  sub- 
ject, as  our  surety.  This  was  the  law  given  to  Adam  at  his 
creation;  and  was  that  on  which  the  covenant  of  works  was 
founded,  when  he  dwelt  in  paradise.  By  the  breach  of  this 
law,  as  a  covenant,  all  mankind  were  brought  under  the  curse. 
When  therefore  it  is  said  by  the  apostle  (Gal.  iv.  4,  5,)  "God 
sent  forth  his  Son,  made  of  a  woman,  made  under  the  law, 
to  redeem  them  that  were  under  the  law,"  we  must  not  only 
understand  the  moral  law  to  be  chiefly  spoken  of,  but  spoken 
of  specially  as  a  covenant  of  works.  We  have  just  seen  that 
the  object  of  Christ's  coming  was  to  redeem  them  that  were 
under  the  law; — that  is,  to  answer  its  demands  in  their  place. 
He  did  answer  its  demands  in  their  place,  and  thus  the  second 
Adam  repaired  the  ruins  of  the  first.  The  law  has  no  longer 
any  claims  upon  his  believing  people,  in  the  form  of  a  covenant. 
But  he  never  fulfilled  it  for  them  as  a  rule  of  life,  in  any  other 
way  than  as  giving  them  a  perfect  example  of  obedience  to  it. 
If  he  had,  then  Christians  would  be  under  no  obligation  to  ren- 
der a  personal  obedience  to  the  moral  law.  This  indeed  the 
gross  Antinomians  have  in  terms  afiirmed.  But  it  is  only  a 
monstrous  and  impious  inference  of  their  own,  made  in  direct 
contradiction  of  the  words  of  Christ  himself — "  I  came  not," 
said  he,  "  to  destroy  the  law,  but  to  fulfil  it."  That  it  was 
the  moral  law  of  which  our  Saviour  here  spoke  is  evident; 
because  he  did  actually  destroy  or  put  an  end  to  the  ceremo- 
nial and  political  laws  of  the  Jews — so  far  as  they  were  sepa- 
rable, as  in  most  cases  they  were,  from  the  principles  of  the 
moral  law. 

It  is  justly  represented  as  a  striking  part  of  Christ's  humi- 
liation, that  he  was  made  under  the  law;  because  it  was  a 
most  amazing  condescension,  that  the  great  Lord  and  law- 

2  s 


322  LECTURES  ON  THE 

giver  of  heaven  and  earth,  should  become  subject  to  the  law 
which  he  had  enacted  for  humble  and  inferior  creatures ; — 
especially  when  he  did  it  to  fulfil  that  law  in  the  place  of 
those  very  creatures,  after  they  had  transgressed  it  and  in- 
curred its  penalty.  If  you  will  meditate  seriously  on  this 
fact,  you  will  find  it  calculated  to  fill  you  with  astonishment. 
It  may  also  show  you  the  miserable  state  of  sinners  who  have 
not,  by  faith,  committed  their  souls  to  Christ;  inasmuch  as 
they  have  to  answer  to  God,  in  their  own  persons,  for  their 
whole  debt  to  the  law,  which  they  have  not  obeyed,  and  the 
full  penalty  of  which  they  have  incurred.  And  in  contrast 
with  this,  it  shows  the  unspeakable  happiness  of  true  be- 
lievers in  Christ,  whose  whole  debt  is  cancelled,  by  his  being 
made  under  the  law  in  their  room  and  behalf. 

Another  item  of  our  Lord's  humiliation  mentioned  in  the 
answer  before  us,  is  his  "  undergoing  the  miseries  of  this  life." 
When  our  blessed  Redeemer  assumed  our  nature,  he  took  no 
exemption  from  any  of  its  sinless  infirmities,  but  a  large  share 
of  them  all.  It  is  recorded  of  him  that  he  was  weary,  that 
he  hungered,  that  he  wept,  that  he  sighed,  that  he  was  sor- 
rowful; but  never  that  he  smiled,  and  but  once  that  he  re- 
joiced. He  was,  as  characteristick  of  him,  "  a  man  of  sor- 
rows and  acquainted  with  grief.''  It  was  prophesied  of  him, 
that  his  "visage  should  be  marred  more  than  any  man's." 
Probably  this  took  place,  in  a  considerable  degree,  even  before 
his  agony.  When  the  Jews  said  to  him,  "thou  art  qot  yet 
fifty  years  old," — the  expression  seems  to  denote  clearly,  that 
they  took  him  to  be  farther  advanced  in  years  than  he  was; 
for  he  was  then  but  little  more  than  thirty — And  it  has  been 
well  remarked,  that  the  cares  and  griefs  which  he  bore,  pro- 
bably gave  him  the  appearance  of  an  age  which  he  had  not 
reached.  In  short,  he  endured,  as  already  said,  hunger,  and 
thirst,  and  weariness,  and  sorrow,  and  grief;  he  also  submit- 
ted to  poverty  and  want,  and  had  not  where  to  lay  his  head ; 
he  yielded  to  the  contradiction,  reproach  and  persecution  of 
an  ungrateful  and  wicked  world;  and  he  even  humbled  him- 
self so  far  as  to  endure  the  assaults  and  temptations  of  the 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  323 

devil.  He  did  all  this,  that  he  might  extract  the  sting  from 
the  afflictions  of  his  people,  and  know,  even  by  experience, 
how  to  sympathize  with  them.  "We  have  not  a  high  priest 
who  cannot  be  touched  with  the  feeling  of  our  infirmities,  but 
was  in  all  points  tempted  as  we  are,  yet  without  sin." 

But  the  sufferings  we  have  hitherto  mentioned,  though  not 
small  in  themselves,  were  the  least  of  the  miseries  which  our 
Redeemer  endured,  in  his  state  of  humiliation  on  earth — The 
answer  we  consider  states,  that  he  also  underwent  "  the  wrath 
of  God."  By  this  we  are  to  understand  that  he  endured  the 
awful  expression  of  God's  holy  and  righteous  displeasure 
against  sin.  His  human  nature,  as  we  have  heretofore  seen, 
could  not  have  sustained  this,  but  for  its  union  with  the  di- 
vine, which  upheld  it. 

But  my  children,  when  you  hear  of  Christ  undergoing  the 
wrath  of  God,  you  are  by  no  means  to  suppose  that  there  was 
ever  a  moment  of  time,  in  which  Christ  ceased  to  be  the  ob- 
ject of  his  Father's  infinite  love.  Never  was  he  more  the  ob- 
ject of  that  love  and  complacency,  than  in  the  midst  of  those 
bitter  sufferings  which  arose  from  the  wrath  of  God  due  to 
our  sins.  Those  sins  which  he  was  bearing  were  the  object 
of  the  Father's  infinite  hatred;  but  the  glorious  person  bear- 
ing them,  was  then,  as  at  all  other  times,  bis  well  beloved 
Son,  in  whom  he  was  well  pleased.  That  God  should  thus 
please  to  bruise  his  Son  and  put  him  to  grief,  and  that  the  Sa- 
viour should  cheerfully  consent  to  sustain  it,  is  just  that  view 
of  the  infinite  love  and  compassion  of  God  and  Christ  to  man- 
kind sinners,  which  astonishes,  and  overwhelms,  and  melts 
the  soul  of  a  believer,  whenever  he  gets  a  glimpse  of  it, — for 
more  than  this,  he  cannot  have  at  present — It  is  emphatically 
"  a  love  which  passeth  knowledge." 

The  wrath  of  God  endured  by  our  blessed  Lord,  when  he 
was  acting  as  a  surety  for  his  people,  chiefly  appeared  in  his 
agony  in  the  garden,  when  he  said  "  My  soul  is  exceeding 
sorrowful  even  unto  death ;  and  when  he  sweat,  as  it  were, 
great  drops  of  blood  falling  down  to  the  ground ;"  and  again 
on  the  cross,  when  he  cried  with  a  loud  voice,  "  My  God, 


324  LECTURES  ON  THE 

my  God,  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me."  Ah,  my  dear  youth ! 
*'if  these  things  were  done  in  the  green  tree,  what  shall  be 
done  in  the  dry?'^ — If  Christ  suffered  thus  when  he  bore  the 
sins  of  others,  how  will  sinners  themselves  suffer,  when  the 
wrath  of  God  shall  be  let  loose  upon  them,  for  their  own  de- 
serts! How  earnest  should  you  be  to  escape  this,  by  imme- 
diately flying  to  the  Saviour,  that  your  sins  may  be  forgiven 
for  his  sake — that  they  may  all  be  blotted  out  in  his  precious 
atoning  blood. 

Again — The  answer  before  us  further  states  that  Christ 
humbled  himself  by  enduring  "  the  cursed  death  of  the  cross." 
This  was  a  punishment  inflicted  only  on  malefactors  of  the 
most  atrocious  and  degraded  kind — 0  who  can  conceive  of 
the  humiliation  of  the  Son  of  God,  in  consenting  to  die  like 
slaves  and  thieves ! — a  death  in  which  infamy  and  agony 
were  united,  and  carried  to  their  very  extremity !  ^ 

The  death  of  the  cross  was  called  a  cursed  death,  because 
they  who  endured  it  were  separated  from  all  good,  and  de- 
voted to  all  evil.  Christ,  although  sinless  in  himself,  was  se- 
parated from  all  happiness,  and  devoted  to  all  misery,  while 
he  suffered  on  the  accursed  tree.  God  spared  him  not,  but 
gave  him  up  to  this  awful  death  for  us  all.  Hear  the  words 
of  inspiration,  "  Christ  hath  redeemed  us  from  the  curse  of 
the  law,  being  made  a  curse  for  us;  for  it  is  written — '  Cursed 
is  every  one  that  hangeth  on  a  tree.'"  Our  blessed  Re- 
deemer had  taken  the  law  place  of  sinners,  and  in  regard  to 
these  it  was  enacted — "  Cursed  is  every  one  who  continueth 
not  in  all  things  written  in  the  book  of  the  law  to  do  them." 

It  is,  I  presume,  known  to  you  all,  that  the  cross  was 
formed  by  a  post  sunk  in  the  ground — toward  the  top  of  which 
a  transverse  piece  of  wood  was  firmly  fastened :  on  this  the 
victim  had  his  arms  extended,  and  nails  were  driven  through 
the  palms  of  each  hand  to  fasten  them  above,  while,  in  the 
same  manner,  the  feet  were  nailed  to  the  post  below.  In  this 
manner  hung,  and  bled,  and  died,  that  Saviour,  my  dear 
youth,  who  thus  suffered,  for  ypur  sins  and  mine !  Having, 
in  these  circumstances,  been  pierced  to  the  heart  with  a  spear, 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  325 

to  insure  his  death,  he  said — "  It  is  finished," — the  great 
work  is  all  accomplished — "Father,  into  thy  hands  I  com- 
mend my  spirit :"  And  "  he  bowed  his  head,  and  gave  up  the 
ghost." — The  sun  hid  his  face;  the  earth  quaked;  the  rocks 
rent;  the  dead  awoke — the  death  of  its  Maker  darkened  and 
convulsed  the  universe! 

The  crucifixion  of  the  Redeemer  had  been  typified,  at  a  very 
early  period  of  the  ancient  Jewish  church,  by  the  brazen  ser- 
pent; which  Moses,  by  Divine  command,  erected  on  a  pole 
in  the  wilderness,  and  to  which  those  who  had  been  stung  by 
serpents,  were  directed  to  look  for  healing:  And  although 
the  ancient  saints  had  not  those  clear  and  definite  ideas  of  the 
atoning  death  of  Christ  Vvrhich  we  are  favoured  with,  yet 
from  symbols  and  sacrifices  they  knew  enough  to  make  this 
the  object  and  reliance  of  their  faith,  and  they  were  saved 
by  it. 

I  must  not  leave  this  part  of  the  subject,  till  I  have  distinct- 
ly reminded  you,  that  neither  during  the  sufferings,  nor  at  the 
death  of  Christ,  was  his  human  nature  separated  from  his  di- 
vine, as  some  have  strangely  affirmed.  The  natures  were  in- 
separable ;  though  it  was  only  in  his  humanity  that  the  Sa- 
viour did  or  could  suffer.  Yet  as  the  Divine  nature  gave 
worth  and  efficacy  to  all,  if  it  had  been  separated  from  the  hu- 
man soul,  there  would  have  been  nothing  left  but  the  suffer- 
ings of  a  perfect  man;  of  no  avail  to  take  away  sin,  and  exhi- 
biting but  a  low  example,  comparatively,  of  humiliation. 

Finally — The  answer  states  that  Christ  was  "  buried  and 
continued  under  the  power  of  death  for  a  time."  Temporal 
death  had  been  a  part  of  the  penalty  threatened  to  the  trans- 
gression of  the  first  covenant,  and  therefore  the  Surety  hum- 
bled himself  to  taste  it.  In  that  remarkable  prophecy  of  our 
Saviour  which  we  have  in  the  53d  chapter  of  Isaiah,  and 
which  seems  more  like  a  history  than  a  prophecy,  there  is  one 
passage  which  but  for  the  facts,  would  appear  extremely  ob- 
scure and  almost  contradictory.  It  is  said  "he  made  his 
grave  with  the  wicked,  and  with  the  rich  in  his  death."  Or 
as  Lowth  more  accurately  renders  it — "  His  grave  was  ap- 


326  LECTURES  ON  THE 

pointed  with  the  wicked;  but  with  the  rich  man  was  his 
tomb/'  How  wonderfully  and  exactly  was  this  prophecy  ac- 
complished!— As  our  Lord  suffered  with  thieves,  so  no  doubt, 
his  grave  was  intended  and  appointed  by  the  Jews  to  be  with 
theirs.  Yet  the  purpose  of  God  must  stand — "  With  the  rich 
man  was  his  tomb."  We  have  only  to  collect  and  read  the 
several  accounts  of  the  evangelists,  thus  connected  and  trans- 
lated by  Lowth — "  There  was  a  rich  man  of  Arimathea, 
named  Joseph,  a  member  of  the  Sanhedrim,  and  of  a  respecta- 
ble character,  who  had  not  consented  to  their  counsel  and 
act :  He  went  boldly  to  Pilate  and  begged  the  body  of  Jesus ; 
and  laid  it  in  his  own  new  tomb,  which  he  had  hewn  out  of 
the  rock,  near  to  the  place  where  Jesus  was  crucified ;  hav- 
ing first  wound  it  in  fine  linen,  with  spices,  as  the  manner  of 
the  Jews  was  to  bury  the  rich  and  great."  Thus  literally, 
strictly,  and  strikingly,  was  this  obscure  prophecy  fulfilled: 
The  grave  of  Jesus  was  appointed  with  the  wicked — with 
thieves  and  robbers — yet  after  all,  with  the  rich  man  was  his 
tomb.  How  wonderful  is  it  that  such  prophecies  do  not  con- 
vince the  Jews! — -They  will,  when  the  veil  shall  be  taken 
from  their  hearts;  and  I  think  these  striking  predictions  were 
partly  intended  for  this  very  purpose. 

Our  Lord's  body  was  laid  in  a  new  tomb,  in  which  no  one 
had  ever  been  laid  before ;  that  when  he  should  arise  from  the 
dead,  there  might  be  no  room  to  affirm  that  it  was  some 
other  possessor  of  the  tomb  that  had  risen,  or  been  removed. 

The  body  of  our  Lord  saw  no  corruption.  It  had  never 
been  tainted  by  a  single  sin.  He  was  in  all  respects,  "  God's 
holy  One :"  and  therefore  when  he  yielded  to  the  stroke  of 
death  and  was  laid  in  the  tomb,  he  saw  no  corruption.  He 
remained  a  part  of  three  days  under  the  power  of  death;  that 
is,  from  about  three  o'clock  of  the  afternoon  of  Friday,  till 
after  daybreak,  on  the  Lord's  day.  This  was  a  space  suffi- 
cient to  number  him  distinctly  with  those  who  are  laid  in  the 
grave,  and  to  ascertain  beyond  all  controversy  that  he  had 
been  dead — that  his  body  was  deprived  of  every  vital  princi- 
ple or  indication. 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  327 

You  learn  in  what  is  called  the  apostles'  creed  that  Christ 
"descended  into  hell."     The  word  here  translated  hell,  is 

hades  in  Greek.     It  means  only  the  state  of  the  dead 

There  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  Christ  descended  to  the 
place  of  the  damned.  The  awful  agony  of  the  garden,  the 
death  of  the  cross,  and  being  numbered  with  the  dead,  fully 
satisfy  this  expression  of  the  apostles'  creed,  and  we  believe 
that  nothing  further  was  intended  by  it.  He  said  to  the  peni- 
tent malefactor — "  This  day  thou  shalt  be  with  me  in  para- 
dise"— His  holy  soul  was  in  paradise,  while  his  body  lay  in 
the  tomb. 

Thus  have  we  considered  the  interesting  subject  of  our 
Lord's  humiliation.  I  could  not  forbear  a  number  of  reflec- 
tions as  I  passed  along.  Let  me  entreat  you,  in  addition,  to 
consider — 

1.  That  the  humiliation  of  Christ  ought  effectually  to  teach 
humility,  to  all  who  profess  to  be  his  disciples.  Why  was  it 
necessary  that  the  Son  of  God  should  stoop  so  low?  Was  it 
not  because  our  sins  had  cast  us  from  the  standing  which  man 
originally  held,  and  had  sunk  us  deep  in  guilt,  and  infamy, 
and  wretchedness  ?  Was  it  not  because  it  was  indispensable 
that  he  should  come  down  to  the  depths  of  our  degradation, 
that  he  might  raise  us  up  from  them?  And  is  this  deeply  de- 
graded state,  that  into  which  every  child  of  Adam  is  born? — 
Is  it  that  in  which  every  one  remains,  till  he  is  delivered  from 
it,  through  the  influence  and  application  of  the  stupendous 
work  which  was  accomplished  by  the  humiliation  of  Christ? 
You  know,  my  dear  youth,  the  answers  to  which  these  inter- 
rogatories point  you.  Believe  it,  the  humiliation  of  Christ, 
when  rightly  considered,  will  connect  itself  with  such  views 
of  human  guilt  and  debasement,  as  are  fitted  to  hide  pride  for- 
ever from  the  eyes  of  every  human  being; — fitted  to  make 
him  feel  that  before  his  God  he  is  a  polluted,  abject  wretch, 
who  is  ever  out  of  his  place,  when  he  is  out  of  the  valley  of 
humiliation.  It  was  indeed  an  infinite  condescension  for  our 
blessed  Redeemer  to  be  in  a  state  of  humiliation ;  but  to  be  in 
that  state  is  no  condescension  in  us.     It  is  our  only  proper 


328  LECTURES  ON  THE 

state.  To  claim  to  be  in  any  other,  is  infinitely  absurd,  as 
well  as  sinful.  0  be  sensible,  that  the  very  essence  of  sin  is 
pride !  It  was  the  first  sin,  and  it  has  been  the  mother  sin, 
ever  since  the  first.  Let  us  acknowledge,  as  becomes  us,  that 
we  are  guilty  and  vile.  Let  us,  as  sinners,  take  our  place 
in  the  dust  before  our  God.  When  there,  we  shall  be  pre- 
pared to  receive  the  benefit  of  our  Lord's  humiliation.  We 
shall  be  willing  to  owe  our  salvation  entirely  to  what  he  has 
done  and  suffered  on  earth,  and  is  now  doing  in  heaven'.  We 
shall  embrace  him — most  cordially  and  thankfully  embrace 
him — jas  all  our  salvation  and  all  our  desire.  We  shall  prove 
our  discipleship  by  that  lowliness  of  mind,  and  by  all  those 
acts  of  condescension  and  kindness  to  our  fellow  sinners,  of 
which  he  has  set  us  an  unspeakably  amiable  example:  and  we 
shall  find  this  lowliness  of  mind  as  favourable  to  our  peace 
and  comfort,  as  it  is  correspondent  to  the  demands  of  duty — 
Yea,  we  shall  find  it  favourable  to  true  magnanimity,  and  ge- 
nuine dignity  of  character.  It  marks  the  ingenuous  return 
of  a  convinced  and  humble  prodigal,  to  the  love  and  kind  re- 
ception of  the  best  of  fathers.  It  is  lovely  in  the  sight  both 
of  God  and  man;  and  it  prepares  all  in  whom  it  is  found,  to 
be  raised  in  due  time,  through  the  aboundings  of  the  Saviour's 
purchase,  to  a  crown  and  a  kingdom,  unfading  and  eternal. 

2.  A  due  consideration  of  the  humiliation  of  Christ,  will 
most  effectually  teach  us  to  be  patient  under  sufferings.  Was 
he  patient  and  resigned,  and  perfectly  submissive  to  his 
Father's  will,  when  he  suffered  for  our  sins?  and  shall  we  be 
impatient  and  rebellious  while  we  suffer  for  our  own  sins? 
For  let  it  ever  be  remembered,  that  if  we  had  not  been  sin- 
ners, suffering  had  never  been  known,  either  by  our  Saviour 
or  by  ourselves.  Sin  is  the  cause  of  all  the  suffering  in  the 
universe.  The  sin  of  man  has  produced  whatever  of  pain 
and  misery  has  been  felt  by  our  guilty  race,  and  by  our  glo- 
rious Redeemer.  He  endured  the  awful  penalty  due  to  the 
guilty,  without  a  regret  or  a  murmur,  when  he  stood  in  their 
place:  and  shall  any  sinner,  on  this  side  the  place  of  toi'ment 
murmur,  when  he  endures  only  a  very  small  part  of  what 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.     ■  329 

his  iniquities  have  deserved?  With  what  pertinence  and  force 
is  it  asked  in  Holy  Scripture—'*  Wherefore  doth  a  living  man 
complain,  a  man  for  the  punishment  of  his  sins?" 

By  what  Christ  endured  in  his  humiliation,  the  sufferings 
of  his  own  people  have  changed  their  character — Their  sting- 
is  extracted.  They  are  no  longer  the  wrathful  inflictions  of 
an  incensed  judge,  but  the  wholesome,  however  painful  disci- 
pline, of  a  wise,  a  kind,  and  a  loving  Father.  Have  the  peo- 
ple of  God  this  assurance,  and  can  they  think  of  what  it  cost 
their  Saviour  to  give  them  this  assurance,  and  yet  can  they 
complain?  No — in  the  lively  exercise  of  faith  they  cannot; 
they  do  not.  A  delicate  woman,  under  one  of  the  most  pain- 
ful operations  of  surgery  which  human  nature  can  sustain, 
was  observed  to  pass  through  the  whole  without  a  sigh  or  a 
groan — How  could  you  bear  it  thus?  was  the  earnest  inquiry, 
after  the  operation  was  safely  over.  I  thought,  said  she,  how 
much  more  than  I  endured,  my  Saviour  bore  for  me,  and  I 
could  not  find  it  in  my  heart  to  utter  a  complaint.  Here,  my 
dear  children,  is  the  blessed  secret  of  bearing  pain  and  afflic- 
tion of  every  kind,  of  which  the  ungodly  world  is  entirely 
ignorant.  The  true  believer  thinks  much  of  what  his  Saviour 
bore;  thinks  that  it  was  borne  for  him;  thinks  that  his  own 
sufferings  are  light  in  the  comparison;  thinks  that  they  are 
all  inflicted  by  a  Father's  hand;  thinks  that  they  are  all  need- 
ed, and  that  infinitely  more  are  deserved;  thinks  that  they 
give  him  the  opportunity  to  exercise  precious  graces,  that 
shall  have  an  abundant  reward;  thinks  that  they  will  all  in- 
crease the  bliss  of  heaven;  thinks,  in  a  word,  that  "  our  light 
affliction  which  is  but  for  a  moment,  worketh  for  us  a  far 
more  exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of  glory;  while  we  look, 
not  at  the  things  which  are  seen,  but  at  the  things  which  are 
not  seen,  for  the  tilings  which  are  seen  are  temporal,  but  the 
things  which  are  not  seen  are  eternal." 

3.  In  the  humiliation  of  Christ,  we  see  more  strikingly  and 
impressively  than  any  where  else,  the  evil  of  sin.  We  see 
this  evil,  as  already  observed,  in  all  the  sufferings  which 
mankind  endure — in  all  the  painful  diseases  to  which  our 

2  T 


330  LECTURES  ON  THE 

race  is  subject;  in  all  that  man  inflicts  on  his  fellow  man;  in 
all  the  calamities  which  arise  from  war,  and  famine,  and  pesti- 
lence, and  inundation,  and  earthquake;  in  all  the  mortality 
which  has  long  since  made  the  number  of  the  dead,  a  thou- 
sand fold  greater  than  the  number  of  the  living — In  all  this, 
you  see  the  consequences  and  the  evil  of  sin ;  and  truly  it  is 
an  appalling  view.  But  if  you  look  into  the  invisible  world, 
and  contemplate  the  state  of  those  who  have  gone  to  the  place 
of  endless  perdition ;  to  the  abodes  of  hopeless  despair;  to  the 
inconceivable  agony  described  in  Holy  Writ,  by  the  worm 
that  never  dies,  and  the  fire  that  is  never  quenched — by  the 
blackness  of  darkness  forever;  by  the  weeping,  and  wailing, 
and  gnashing  of  teeth,  of  those  the  smoke  of  whose  torment 
ascendeth  up  forever  and  ever — When  you  contemplate  this, 
you  think  nothing  of  all  the  sufferings  of  the  present  life. 
Here  you  are  ready  to  say — here,  in  "the  damnation  of 
hell,"  we  see,  in  the  most  awful  manner  the  evil  of  sin — No, 
my  dear  children,  there  is  one  other  view,  that  is  more  awful 
still.  In  all  you  have  yet  seen,  not  an  individual  being  en- 
dures any  thing  beyond  what  he  has  personally  and  justly  de- 
served. But  now  turn  your  eyes  to  Gethsemane  and  Cal- 
vary, and  there  see  "  the  Holy  One  of  God,"  suffering  by 
imputation  only,  for  the  sins  of  his  people — suffering  ago- 
nies beyond  all  your  conceptions — and  then  tell,  or  conceive, 
if  you  can,  what  must  be  the  malignity  of  that  evil,  which  a 
righteous  God  could  not  consistently  pardon,  without  these 
ineffable  inflictions  on  his  only  begotten  and  well  beloved 
Son.  0  flee  to  him  ! — that  as  your  sins  have  caused  his  suf- 
ferings, so  his  meritorious  righteousness,  wrought  out  in  pain 
and  humiliation,  may  save  you  from  suffering  without  hope 
and  without  end.     This  leads  me  to  remark — 

4.  That  we  may  learn  our  infinite  indebtedness  to  the  Sa- 
viour, by  contemplating  his  humiliation.  We  are  accustomed 
to  estimate  our  obligations  to  a  benefactor,  by  considering  both 
the  intrinsick  value  of  his  gift,  and  what  it  cost  him  to  be- 
stow it  on  us.  Estimate  in  this  way,  if  it  be  possible,  the  ob- 
ligations we  are  under  to  our  adored  Redeemer,     Can  man  or 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  331 

angel  tell,  what  is  the  value  of  the  gift  of  eternal  life,  to  those 
who  were  doomed  to  eternal  death?  But  such  is  the  gift  of 
Christ  to  every  glorified  spirit,  that  shall  be  found  in  "the 
General  Assembl}^  and  Church  of  the  first  born,  whose  names 
are  written  in  heaven."  Every  individual  of  that  whole  as- 
sembly owes,  and  will  eternally  and  entirely  owe  it  to  Christ, 
that  his  are  all  the  unknown  joys  of  heaven,  in  place  of  all  the 
unknown  miseries  of  hell.  And  to  procure  for  his  people 
this  happy  exchange  of  destiny — to  make  them  the  gift  of 
eternal  life,  their  Saviour,  in  his  humiliation,  answered  a  debt 
which  none  but  a  God  could  pay.  "  We  were  not  redeemed 
with  corruptible  things  as  silver  and  gold,  but  with  the  pre- 
cious blood  of  Christ,  as  of  a  lamb  without  blemish,  and  with- 
out a  spot — Feed  the  church  of  God — said  the  holy  apostle — 
which  he  hath  purchased  with  his  own  blood."  Now,  when 
we  thus  consider  what  an  infinite  benefit  our  blessed  Lord  be- 
stows on  his  people,  and  at  what  an  expense  he  procured  it, 
do  you  not  perceive  that  their  indebtedness  to  him  is  strictly 
inconceivable,  is  literally  infinite.  He  knows  that  we  can 
never  repay  him,  and  he  does  not  require  it — Nay,  he  not 
only  intended  that  what  he  did  should  be  gratuitous,  but  he 
demands  that  we  receive  it  as  such.  It  is  the  height  of  arro= 
gant  and  impious  self-sufficiency,  so  much  as  to  think  of  ren- 
dering to  Christ  an  equivalent  for  what  he  has  done  for  us,  or 
to  think  of  adding  to  it  by  any  deeds  of  our  own.  We  are  to 
receive  his  aifts  "  without  money  and  without  price."  But 
he  does  e5spect  and  demand  our  gratitude — He  expects  and 
demands  it,  as  the  evidence  of  our  sense  of  obligation. 
And  where  is  the  gratitude  of  that  human  being,  who  hears 
the  gospel  message,  and  does  not  feel  that  he  is  indebted  to 
the  Saviour,  beyond  what  can  be  uttered  or  imagined  ! 

Consider  then,  I  entreat  you,  in  what  manner  yOu  are  to 
make  known  that  you  feel  your  indebtedness  to  your  Re- 
deemer. It  is  by  accepting  him  as  )^our  only  Saviour;  it  is 
by  making  nothing  of  yourselves,  and  every  thing  of  him;  it 
is  by  coming  to  him  to  deliver  you  at  once  from  the  guilt,  the 
pollution,  and  the  dominion  of  your  sins;  it  is  by  devoting 


333  LECTURES  ON  THE 

yourselves  unreservedly  to  his  service  and  glory;  it  is  by 
obeying  all  his  commandments;  it  is  by  cultivating  a  temper 
and  spirit  like  his  own,  and  walking  as  you  have  him  for  an 
example;  it  is  by  adorning  his  religion,  and  using  all  your 
means  and  influence  to  gain  others  to  embrace  it;  it  is  by 
living  as  citizens  of  heaven — holding  communion  with  your 
Redeemer  now,  and  anticipatirig  the  happy  period  when  you 
shall  see  him  as  he  is,  be  in  your  measure  like  him,  and  dwell 
for  ever  in  his  presence,  in  the  mansions  which  he  has  gone 
to  prepare  for  his  people.     Amen. 


LECTURE  XXV. 

WJierein  consists  Christ's  exaltation^ 

We  are  now  to  enter  on  the  important  subject  of  Christ's 
exaltation — It  is  thus  stated  in  the  catechism.  "  Christ's  ex- 
altation consisteth  in  his  rising  again  from  the  dead  on  the 
third  day,  in  his  ascending  up  into  heaven,,  in  sitting  at  the 
right  hand  of  God  the  Father,  and  in  coming  to  judge  the 
world  at  the  last  day." 

When  we  speak  of  the  exaltation  of  Christ,  you  are  not  to 
understand  by  it  that  any  new  glory  was  conferred  on  his  di- 
vine nature — that  was  impossible ;  for  as  God,  his  glory  was 
infinite  and  unchangeable.  But  this  glory,  as  we  have  seen, 
was  eclipsed  and  hidden,  while  he  assumed  our  nature,  and 
appeared  in  our  world  in  the  form  of  a  servant.  His  exalta- 
tion therefore,  properly  and  strictly  consists  in  a  manifesta- 
tion in  the  human  nature,  which  for  a  time  had  veiled  the 
divine,  of  the  same  glory  which  he  had  eternally  possessed 
as  the  Son  of  God.  This  we  are  taught  in  his  o%vn  inter- 
cessory prayer — "  And  now,  0  Father,  glorify  thou  me  with 
thine  own  self,  with  the  glory  which  I  had  with  thee,  before 
the  world  was." 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  ;333 

It  was  with  a  manifest  and  most  impressive  propriety,  that 
this  exaltation  should  succeed  immediately  to  his  humiliation. 
Such  is  the  representation  v)f  scripture.  "  He  humbled  him- 
self, and  became  obedient  unto  death,  even  the  death  of  the 
cross;  wherefore  God  also  hath  highly  exalted  him,  and 
given  him  a  name  which  is  above  every  name;  that  at  the 
name  of  Jesus  every  knee  should  bow,  of  things  in  heaven 
and  things  in  earth,  and  things  under  the  earth;  and  that 
every  tongue  should  confess  that  Jesus  Christ  is  Lord,  to  the 
glory  of  God  the  Father."  Thus  it  was  that  the  Sun  of 
righteousness,  on  passing  from  under  the  dark  cloud  of  his 
humiliation  and  suffering,  shone  and  astonished  with  the 
most  striking  and  glorious  lustre.  The  ignominy  of  the 
cross  was  thus  wiped  away;  and  God  who  raised  him  from 
the  dead  and  gave  him  glory,  gave  to  his  people  also  the  evi- 
dence, that  when  their  reliance  and  expectations  are  placed 
on  him,  their  faith  and  hope  shall  he  in  God. 

Let  us  now  consider  the  several  particulars  of  our  Re- 
deemer's exaltation,  as  they  are  stated  in  the  answer  be- 
fore us. 

1.  He  "rose  again  from  the  dead  on  the  third  day." 

We  have  already  had  occasion  to  observe,  that  it  was  a 
part  only  of  three  days,  during  which  our  Redeemer  lay  in 
the  grave.  The  time  of  his  continuance  there  indeed,  was 
not  equal  even  to  the  space  of  two  whole  days.  Yet  as  our 
Lord  was  in  the  tomb  a  part  of  three  days,  and  it  wa^j  cus- 
tomary with  the  Jews  and  agreeable  to  the  language  of  scrip- 
ture, to  represent  an  event  as  extending  through  all  the  days 
on  which  any  part  of  it  took  place,  there  was  a  complete  ful- 
filment, according  to  the  then  current  use  of  language,  oi^  ilie 
declaratioiT,  that  "  the  Son  of  man  should  be  three  days  and 
three  nights  in  the  heart  of  the  earth."  Our  Redeemer  was 
put  to  death  on  the  eve  of  the  Jewish  Sabbath,  Friday  after- 
noon, and  rose  very  early  on  the  morning  of  the  first  day  of 
the  week,  called  from  this  circumstance,  the  Lord's  day; 
and  which,  from  the  age  of  the  apostles  to  the  present  lime, 
the  great  mass  of  Christians  have  observed  as  a  day  of  sacred 


334  lECTURES  ON  THE 

rest,  in  place  of  the  Jewish  Sabbath — The  reason  and  pro- 
priety of  this  will  be  explained,  if  we  are  spared  to  discuss 
the  fourth  commandment. 

In  the  mean  time,  let  us  give  a  few  moments  of  our  most 
engaged  attention,  to  that  essential  article  of  a  Christian's 
faith  and  hope,  the  resurrection  of  Christ.  That  this  was  an 
event  to  take  place  in  the  person  of  the  Messiah,  was  prefi- 
gured to  Abraham,  in  his  receiving  his  son  Isaac,  as  it  were 
from  the  dead.  It  was  foretold  to  the  fathers,  as  is  expressly 
affirmed  by  the  apostle  Paul  in  his  discourse  to  the  Jews  at 
Antioch  in  Pisidia,  who  quotes  a  passage  from  the  second 
Psalm,  in  proof  of  the  f&ct— Acts  xiii.  33.  Our  Lord  him- 
self, not  only  alluded  to  it  on  several  occasions,  but  told  his 
disciples  of  it  in  the  most  explicit  terms.  Mark  ix.  31. — 
"  He  taught  his  disciples  and  said  unto  them — The  Son  of 
man  is  delivered  into  the  hands  of  men,  and  they  shall  kill 
him,  and  after  that  he  is  killed,  he  shall  rise  the  third  day.'^ 
Again  he  said,  ^' After  I  am  risen,  I  will  go  before  you  into 
Galilee."  The  Jews  therefore  attempted  to  discredit  the  re- 
surrection of  Christ;  and  modern  infidels  still  attempt  the 
same  thing;  knowing  that  if  they  succeed  in  this,  they  un- 
settle at  once  the  whole  Christian  system.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  advocates  of  Christianity  defend  this  point,  as  the 
citadel  of  their  faith.  Nay,  if  this  one  point  be  maintained, 
the  Christian  religion  is  indisputably  established  as  of  divine 
authority.  Sherlock  has  written  an  able  little  work,  entitled 
"  The  Trial  of  the  Witnesses,"  in  which  he  has  examined 
the  evidence  of  our  Lord's  resurrection,  on  the  strict  princi- 
ples and  forms  of  taking  testimony  in  the  English  courts  of 
law;  and  has  shown,  that  on  those  principles,  and  agreeably 
to  that  procedure,  an  upright  judge  and  jury  would  be  obliged 
to  pronounce  that  Christ  had  indubitably  risen  from  the  dead. 
But  the  ablest  piece  on  this  subject,  with  which  I  am  ac- 
quainted, is  the  production  of  Gilbert  West.*     It  is  known 

•*  Since  this  lecture  was  delivered,  the  author  has  seen  announced  a  trea- 
tise, which  he  has  not  perused,  that  is  said  to  set  the  evidence  of  our  Lord's 
resurrection,  as  given  by  the  evangelists,  in  a  still  clearer  light  than  was  done 
by  Mr.  West. 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  335 

lo  all  who  read  their  Bibles  carefully,  that  the  accounts  e;iven 
of  the  resurrection  of  Christ  by  the  different  evangelists, 
seem,  at  first  view,  to  be  hardly  consistent  with  each  other. 
It  is  said  that  West  had  doubted  or  disbelieved  the  truth  of 
revelation,  and  that  he  first  gave  his  attention  to  this  subject, 
with  a  view  to  prove  that  the  historians  had  contradicted 
each  other,  and  therefore  that  the  fact  which  they  all  asserted 
was  unworthy  of  credit:  that,  however,  on  examining  and 
comparing  the  evangelists,  critically  and  closely,  he  found 
there  was  no  contradiction  :  that,  on  the  contrary,  he  per- 
ceived there  was  the  most  perfect  harmony,  and  that  the 
variety  in  their  accounts  was  only  a  palpable  proof  that  they 
did  not  write  in  concert,  but  like  honest  witnesses,  each  told 
the  facts  which  he  knew  in  his  own  way :  in  a  word,  that 
on  a  careful  comparison  of  the  facts  of  the  case  they  all  went 
to  establish  the  same  point,  by  various,  but  yet  concordant 
and  incontestable  evidence.  In  whatever  way  he  was  led  to 
it,  he  has  certainly  settled  this  point,  beyond  reasonable  con- 
troversy—  I  advise  you  all  to  read  the  two  books  I  have  men- 
tioned— The  Trial  of  the  Witnesses,  and  West  on  the  Resur- 
rection. 

A  summary  of  the  evidence  of  our  Lord's  resurrection 
may  be  given  thus— It  rests  on  testimony ;  the  testimony 
both  of  angels  and  of  men.  The  angels  testified  to  the  wo- 
men who  came  to  the  sepulchre,  that  he  was  not  there,  but 
was  risen  as  he  had  told  them.  The  apostles  all  asserted  the 
truth  of  his  resurrection,  and  the  most  of  them  laid  down 
their  lives  in  attestation  of  this  fact.  They  unanimously  de- 
clared that  "God  raised  him  up, on  the  third  day, and  showed 
him  openly,  not  to  all  the  people,  but  to  witnesses  chosen  be- 
fore of  God;  even  to  us,  says  Peter,  who  did  eat  and  drink 
with  him  after  he  rose  from  the  dead.''  This  testimony,  at 
the  risk  of  life,  was  delivered  before  that  very  Sanhedrim 
who  had  put  our  Lord  to  death;  and  by  that  very  disciple 
(as  the  mouth  of  the  rest)  who  had  before  denied  him. 

Our  Lord  often  appeared  to  his  disciples  after  his  resurrec- 
tion, and  gave  them  such  proofs  of  his  identity,  as  no  mortal 


336  LECTURES  ON  THE 

could  rationally  disbelieve  or  doubt.  He  not  only  ate  and 
drank  with  them,  showed  them  the  print  of  the  nails  in  his 
hands  and  feet,  and  of  the  spear  in  his  side,  and  made  the  un- 
believing Thomas  examine  with  his  hands  as  well  as  his  eyes, 
the  scars  of  his  wounds;  but  what  was  still  more  unequivo- 
cal, if  possible,  he  adverted  to  what  he  had  told  them  before 
his  death,  and  to  things  which  only  he  and  they  could  possi- 
bly know.  At  one  time  he  showed  himself  to  no  less  than 
five  hundred  brethren. — He  remained  forty  days  on  earth, 
that  by  his  appearing  frequently,  and  conversing  familiarly 
and  freely  with  his  disciples,  they  might  have  the  fullest  con- 
viction and  satisfaction  as  to  his  resurrection,  and  that  he 
might  also  instruct  them  in  the  nature  of  his  kingdom,  and  in 
the  manner  in  which  it  was  to  be  extended,  established,  and 
governed. 

It  was  surely  one  of  the  most  contemptible  artifices  ever 
practised — and  no  doubt  it  was  practised  because  a  better 
could  not  be  devised — which  the  chief  priests  and  elders  of 
the  Jews  employed,  when  they  bribed  the  Roman  soldiers  to 
say,  that  his  disciples  came  by  night,  and  stole  him  away 
while  they  slept.  The  soldiers  would  never  have  said  this, 
had  they  not  been  secured  against  punishment  from  the  go- 
vernor, if  he  should  hear  it:  For  in  saying  it,  every  one  con- 
fessed himself  guilty  of  a  capital  crime ;  because  the  Roman 
discipline  made  it  death,  in  all  cases,  for  a  sentinel  to  sleep 
on  his  post.  Beside,  the  thing  in  itself,  was  both  incredible 
and  self  contradictory — Incredible,  that  they  should  sleep 
through  the  great  earthquake  which  accompanied  the  rolling 
away  of  the  stone  by  the  angel;  and  self  contradictory,  be- 
cause if  they  were  asleep,  they  could  not  possibly  know 
that  his  disciples  had  taken  him  away.  But  something  must 
be  said:  and  this  was  the  best  that  his  enemies  could  find  to 
say. 

You  will  remember,  my  children,  that  Christ  rose  from  the 
dead  as  a  pi(blick person,  representing  all  his  spiritual  seed, 
and  as  claiming  in  their  behalf  a  complete  discharge  from  the 
penalty  of  the  divine  law.     Having  fully  paid  the  debt  for 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  337 

which  he  was  committed  to  the  prison  of  the  tomb,  justice 
required  that  he,  the  surety,  should  be  discharged,  and  that 
no  further  demand  should  be  made  on  those  for  whom  he  an- 
swered. His  resurrection  was  the  declaration  of  God,  that 
justice  was  fully  satisfied ;  and  it  is  to  be  regarded  as  the  di- 
vine assurance  to  every  believer,  that  all  his  sins,  for  his 
surety's  sake,  shall  certainly  be  remitted. 

It  is  a  most  delightful  theme  of  meditation,  to  dwell  on  the 
resurrection  of  Christ.  It  were  well  to  think  of  it,  especially 
on  the  morning  of  every  Lord's  day — To  think  of  the  com- 
pletion of  the  work  of  redemption,  when,  like  a  mighty  con- 
queror of  sin,  death,  the  grave,  and  hell,  the  Redeemer  rose 
triumphant  over  all ;  giving  to  his  believing  people  the  most 
precious  pledge  of  their  acquittal  from  condemnation,  of  their 
protection  from  all  those  spiritual  enemies  over  which  he  tri- 
umphed, and  of  their  own  glorious  resurrection  in  the  last 
day — when  their  bodies  shall  be  made  like  unto  his  own  glo- 
rious body,  and  dwell  forever  in  his  blissful  presence. 


LECTURE  XXVI. 

Wherein  consists  Christ's  exaltation? — continued. 

The  second  step  of  our  Lord's  exaltation  was  "  his  ascend- 
ing up  into  heaven." 

The  place  of  Christ's  ascension  is  well  worthy  of  particu- 
lar notice.  It  was  from  Mount  Olivet,  nigh  to  Bethany;  from 
the  very  mountain,  perhaps  from  the  very  spot,  where,  in  his 
awful  agony,  his  soul  had  been  '^  exceeding  sorrowful  even 
unto  death;"  and  he  had  "sweat  as  it  were  great  drops  of 
hlood  falling  down  to  the  ground."  What  an  interesting, 
what  a  well  chosen  contrast !  How  proper  that  on  the  spot 
where  his  disciples  had  seen  his  deep  depression,  they  should 
witness  his  glorification ;  that  from  the  place  where  he  had 

2  u 


339  LECTURES  ON  THE 

tasted,  as  far  as  innocence  could  taste,  of  the  pains  of  hell,  he 
should  ascend  to  heaven ;  that  from  the  ground  once  moist- 
ened with  his  blood  and  tears,  he  should  rise  to  eternal  joys. 
His  eleven  faithful  apostles — the  traitor  Judas  having  gone 
to  his  own  place — were  the  chosen  witnesses  of  this  glorious 
scene.  Their  Divine  Master,  we  are  told,  led  them  out  as 
far  as  Bethany. — Let  us  go  with  them,  my  children,  guided 
by  the  word  of  truth.  As  they  passed  along,  the  Lord  charged 
them  not  to  depart  from  Jerusalem  till  they  should  have  re- 
ceived the  Holy  Ghost,  which  he  promised  he  would  shortly 
send.  He  told  them,  of  course,  that  this  was  his  last  personal 
interview  with  them  on  earth,  and  that  he  was  just  going  to 
ascend  to  the  Father.  Yet,  to  raise  their  drooping  spirits,  he 
promised  them  his  spiritual  presence,  without  interruption 
— "Lo!  I  am  with  you  always,  even  to  the  end  of  the 
world. ^' — But  the  place  of  separation  is  now  reached— the 
time  to  part  is  come.  He  gathers  the  little  group  around 
him — I  think  I  see  them  all  kneel  to  receive  his  last  blessing 
— He  lifts  up  his  hands  in  prayer  and  benediction;  and  while 
he  is  blessing  them,  behold  !  he  rises  from  the  ground.  But 
still  he  blesses  them — till  his  voice  can  no  longer  be  heard. 
He  ascends  rapidly,  but  they  follow  him  with  eager  eyes, 
till  a  cloud  receives  and  covers  him :  And  still  they  look  at 
the  place  where  they  saw  him  last — They  hope  to  catch  one 
more  glimpse  of  their  dear  departed  Lord,  and  they  look  and 
look,  till  they  are  roused  from  their  reverie  by  a  voice — They 
cast  their  eyes  downward,  and  see  two  angels  clothed  in 
white,  who  say — "  Ye  men  of  Galilee,  why  stand  ye  gazing 
up  into  heaven  ?  This  same  Jesus  which  is  taken  up  from  you, 
shall  so  come,  in  like  manner  as  ye  have  seen  him  go  into 
heaven" — Then  the  holy  apostles  prostrate  and  worship  their 
ascended  Master.  Beyond  a  reasonable  question  it  was  reli- 
gious worship,  which  they  offered  him.  How  could  it  be 
any  other?  His  body  was  gone  into  heaven.  If  they  did  not 
believe  him  present  as  God,  their  act  was  unmeaning  and  ab- 
surd. 

Meanwhile,  the  ascended  Saviour,  making  the  bright  cloud 


SHORTER    CATECHISM.  339 

his  triumphal  chariot,  attended  by  and  passing  through 
crowds  of  adoring  angels,  went  far  on  to  a  throne  exalted 
above  theirs,  till  he  sat  down  on  the  right  hand  of  God. 
This  is  sublimely  shadowed  forth  in  the  24th  Psalm,  which 
I  recommend  that  you  read  attentively,  in  reference  to  this 
glorious  event.  The  Psalm  primarily  related  to  the  intro- 
duction of  the  ark  to  the  holy  of  holies,  in  the  Jewish  taber- 
nacle and  temple;  but  ultimately  and  especially  it  refers  to 
the  entrance  of  the  King  of  glory,  the  divine  Immanuel,  into 
his  heavenly  kingdom;  and  to  his  reception  of  his  mediato- 
rial throne,  after  conquering  the  powers  of  darkness,  and 
leading  captivity  captive. 

This  last  circumstance  is  considered  in  the  Catechism,  as 
another  distinct  step  of  his  exaltation.  In  scripture,  the  right 
hand  is  always  considered  as  the  place  of  the  greatest  honour 
and  dignity,  and  sitting  implies  rest  and  quietness.  Christ's 
sitting  on  the  right  hand  of  the  Father  therefore,  implies  the 
quiet  and  peaceable  possession  of  that  matchless  dignity  and 
fulness  of  power,  with  which  he  is  vested  as  the  glorious 
King  and  head  of  his  church. 

The  first  and  most  illustrious  act  of  the  ascended,  glorified 
and  reigning  Saviour,  in  execution  of  his  work,  was  the  mis- 
sion of  the  promised  Comforter,  the  Holy  Ghost,  on  the  day 
of  Pentecost — the  fiftieth  day  after  his  resurrection,  and  the 
tenth,  it  would  appear,  after  his  ascension  into  heaven.  You 
will  observe  that  the  mission  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  is  expressly 
declared  to  be  the  immediate  act  of  Christ,  by  the  apostle 
Peter,  in  explaining  the  wonderful  appearances  on  the  day  of 
Pentecost.  ''  This  Jesus  (says  the  apostle)  hath  God  raised 
up,  whereof  we  all  are  witnesses — Therefore,  being  by  the 
right  hand  of  God  exalted,  and  having  received  of  the  Father 
the  promise  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  he  hath  shed  forth  this  which 
ye  now  see  and  hear."  He  who  was  anointed  with  the  Spi- 
rit without  measure,  and  who  was  now  seated  on  his  media- 
torial throne — in  conformity  with  the  will  of  the  eternal 
Father,  and  in  fulfilment  of  his  own  promise  to  send  the  Com- 
forter, did  now  send  him,  with  all  his  miraculous  energies 


340  LECTURES  ON  THE 

and  operations.  The  apostles  themselves  were  immediately 
and  fully  enlightened  into  the  nature  of  their  mission,  work 
and  expectations.  You  never  more  hear  of  their  looking  for 
a  temporal  kingdom,  or  for  any  earthly  distinctions — To 
spread  the  gospel,  and  to  suffer  and  die  for  their  Lord,  was 
ever  after,  their  highest  ambition.  Although  men  of  no  lite- 
rary education,  they  now,  by  the  instantaneous  instruction  of 
the  Spirit  of  all  wisdom,  spake  and  discoursed  with  propriety, 
in  twelve  or  fourteen  different  languages;  and  thus  were  qua- 
lified to  spread  the  gospel  throughout  the  world.  But  per- 
haps the  greatest  miracle  of  all  was,  that  a  single  address  of  a 
fisherman  of  Galilee,  under  the  guidance  and  application  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  made,  in  one  day,  three  thousand  converts — 
converts,  some  of  them,  of  the  very  betrayers  and  crucifiers 
of  Him,  who  in  this  wonderful  manner  sent  the  Spirit,  to 
convince  them  of  sin,  and  to  renew  them  unto  holiness. 
Under  the  unerring  guidance  of  this  Holy  Spirit,  the  apostles 
were  also  qualified  to  give  us,  without  error,  the  sacred 
writings  of  the  New  Testament;  and  to  publish  the  gospel, 
with  an  astonishing  success,  throughout  the  civilized  world — 
in  opposition  to  all  the  learning,  power  and  superstition, 
which  the  world  contained — the  only  means  employed  being 
truth  and  miracles. 

The  miraculous  gifts  of  the  Spirit  have  long  since  ceased, 
but  his  ordinary  operations  have  not  ceased,  and  never  will 
to  the  end  of  time.  To  these  operations,  the  renovation  and 
conversion  of  every  soul  that  is  translated  out  of  the  kingdom 
of  Satan  into  the  kingdom  of  God's  dear  Son,  is  altogether 
to  be  attributed;  and  the  kingdom  of  Christ  on  earth  is  thus 
continued,  established  and  extended,  in  opposition  to  all  ene- 
mies; and  it  will  extend,  till  the  knowledge  and  love  of  God 
shall  cover  the  earth  as  the  waters  do  the  seas.  The  sending 
of  this  glorious  and  blessed  agent,  thus  to  insure  and  perpetu- 
ate the  benefits  of  his  work,  is  a  most  important  particular  in 
the  exaltation  of  Christ. 

Meantime  he  sits  at  the  right  hand  of  the  Majesty  on 
high,   as  the  head  of  the  church.     There,  as   her  glorious 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  341 

Lord,  as  her  divine  Mediator,  as  her  kind  Intercessor  and  pre- 
valent Advocate,  he  will  continue  to  sit,  till  he  shall  have 
gathered  all  his  people  to  himself,  and  made  his  foes  his  foot- 
stool. 

The  exaltation  of  Christ  will  be  gloriously  consummated, 
by  ''  his  coming  to  judge  the  world  at  the  last  day."  How 
completely  will  the  scenes  of  his  humiliation  then  be  re- 
versed ! — How  wide  and  wonderful  will  be  the  contrast, 
when  he  who  once  suffered  as  a  malefactor,  shall  sit  as  the 
judge  of  the  universe,  and  pronounce  the  eternal  destiny  both 
of  friends  and  foes! — the  eternal  destiny  of  two  whole  orders 
of  immortal  beings,  angels  and  men!  We  are  told  expressly 
that  "  the  Father  judgeth  no  man,  but  hath  committed  all 
judgment  unto  the  Son,  that  all  men  should  honour  the  Son, 
even  as  they  honour  the  Father."  What  an  infatuation — I 
cannot  forbear  the  remark  in  passing — what  an  infatuation,  to 
think  that  he  of  whom  this  is  spoken,  is  nothing  more  than  a 
mere  man ! 

The  time  of  the  final  judgment  is  unknown,  both  to  men 
and  angels.  It  is  called  in  the  Catechism  the  last  day,  be- 
cause, after  this,  time  shall  be  no  longer.  There  will  be  no 
more  succession  of  days  and  nights ;  but  one  perpetual  day  of 
light,  comfort  and  joy,  to  the  righteous;  and  one  perpetual 
night  of  utter  darkness,  misery  and  wo,  to  the  wicked. 

The  second  coming  of  Christ  will  be  in  a  manner  the  most 
splendid  and  glorious.  All  attempts  to  heighten  it,  by  poetic 
figure  or  ornament,  only  cloud  it.  The  simplest  representa- 
tion is  the  most  sublime.  "  He  shall  come  in  the  clouds  of 
heaven,  with  power  and  great  glory — In  the  glory  of  his 
Father  with  all  the  holy  angels."  He  will  be  a  visible  judge. 
It  is  expressly  said  that  "  every  eye  shall  see  him" — Yes,  my 
dear  youth,  as  surely  as  your  eyes  now  behold  the  objects  on 
which  they  are  fixed,  so  surely  will  they  at  last  be  fixed  on 
Christ,  as  your  final  judge. 

The  place  of  judgment  will  be  the  aerial  heavens — It  is 
said  that  "  we  shall  ascend  to  meet  the  Lord  in  the  air."  In 
some  portion  of  space,  sufficiently  removed  from  our  earth, 


342  LECTURES  ON  THE 

which  will  then  be  on  fire,  and  which  will  eventually  be 
burnt  up,  the  judgment  will  sit.  Those  who  are  alive  at  the 
second  coming  of  Christ,  the  Apostle  tells  us,  "  will  be 
changed  in  a  moment,  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye."  Those 
who  are  dead  shall  be  awakened ;  "  for  the  4rumpet  shall 
sound,  and  the  dead  shall  be  raised."  The  pious  dead,  as  if 
most  ready  to  obey  the  summons,  will  rise  first.  But  not  a 
child  of  Adam,  of  any  age,  clime,  or  country,  shall  be  over- 
looked, or  left  behind.     What  a  host  I 

"  No  spot  on  earth,  but  has  supplied  a  grave, 
And  human  skulls  the  spacious  ocean  pave, 
All's  full  of  man ;  and  at  this  dreadful  turn, 
The  swarm  shall  issue,  and  the  hive  shall  burn." 

It  appears  from  scripture,  that  the  righteous  will  be  sepa- 
rated from  the  wicked,  as  soon  as  they  rise. — From  the  com- 
mencement of  the  judgment  they  will  be  placed  on  the  right 
hand  of  the  Judge,  and  the  wicked  on  the  left.  Angels,  as 
well  as  men,  we  are  expressly  told,  will  then  appear  to  be 
judged.  The  fallen  angels  are  ''  reserved  in  chains  of  dark- 
ness, unto  the  judgment  of  the  great  day."  They  were  the 
tempters  of  man  to  sin,  and  they  are  now  to  stand  with  him 
before  the  common  Judge.  This  is  one  grand  end  and  design 
of  the  judgment  day:  that  as,  through  the  intervention  of 
Christ,  man  has  been  redeemed  and  Satan  defeated,  so,  when 
the  work  is  accomplished,  all  concerned  in  this  work,  may  be 
collected  together,  not  only  to  witness  the  exaltation  and  tri- 
umph of  Christ,  but  to  contribute  to  it— his  friends,  by  receiv- 
ing his  approbation  and  sharing  his  glory;  his  enemies,  by 
receiving  the  sentence  of  their  condemnation,  and  being  con- 
signed to  merited  and  endless  misery. 

Another  design  of  the  judgment  is  to  vindicate,  and  make 
known  to  all,  the  equity  of  the  Divine  dispensations,  and  the 
justice  of  the  Divine  procedure.  Then  all  the  mysteries  of 
Providence,  we  have  reason  to  believe,  will  be  unfolded; 
and  God  will  show  that  in  all  cases,  he  has  acted  with  per- 
fect justice,  wisdom,  faithfulness  and  truth;  and  all  inequali- 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  343 

ties,  as  they  now  appear  to  us,  will  be  explained  and  ad- 
justed. 

But  another,  and  a  great  design  of  the  judgment  is,  that 
from  that  time,  the  happiness  of  the  righteous,  and  the  misery 
of  the  wicked,  may  be  greatly  augmented.  Both  classes,  we 
know,  are  made  happy  or  miserable  at  death.  But  the  Divine 
constitution  is,  that  during  the  intermediate  state,  between 
death  and  the  resurrection,  they  shall  be  less  happy  and  less 
miserable,  than  after  their  souls  and  bodies  are  reunited. 
Hence  the  judgment  day  is  represented  as  a  great  object  of 
desire  to  the  righteous,  and  of  great  apprehension  and  dread 
to  the  wicked. 

As  the  righteous  will  rise  first,  so  also  they  will  be  judged 
and  acquitted  first ;  because  they  are  afterwards  to  be  asses- 
sors with  Christ,  in  passing  sentence  on  devils  and  wicked 
men:  That  is,  they  will  consent  to  his  judgment  as  just,  and 
say  Amen,  to  the  doom  pronounced  on  the  ungodly — ^^Know 
ye  not,  says  the  Apostle,  that  we  shall  judge  angels.'^  It  is 
the  opinion  of  some,  to  which  I  rather  incline,  that  we  are 
authorized  from  scripture  to  say,  that  there  will  be  no  men- 
tion made  of  the  sins  of  the  righteous,  in  the  day  of  judg- 
ment; that,  being  blotted  out  by  the  blood  of  Christ,  they 
will  be  cancelled,  as  though  they  had  never  been.  There  is 
no  question  that  all  their  good  deeds  will  be  brought  into 
view — not  only  those  which  have  been  publick,  but  all  their 
most  secret  acts  of  benevolence,  piety  and  love — and  that' 
they  will  be  rewarded,  according  to  their  works.  The  re- 
ward will  be  all  of  grace,  and  yet  proportioned  to  the  attain- 
ments and  exertions  of  each  individual. 

On  the  other  hand,  all  the  secret  vices  and  wickedness  of 
the  ungodly,  in  all  their  blackness  and  deformity,  will  be  ex- 
posed to  the  universe.  The  heathen  who  have  sinned  with- 
out law,  shall  be  judged  without  law— judged  only  for  the 
violation  of  that  law  which  was  written  on  their  hearts,  and 
legible  by  the  light  of  nature.  But  "  those  who  have  sinned 
under  the  law,  shall  be  judged  by  the  law.'^    Those  who  have 


344  LECTURES  ON  THE 

enjoyed  and  rejected  the  gospel,  will  perish  with  the  most 
awful  condemnation. 

The  reverses  which  the  day  of  judgment  will  exhibit,  will 
be  both  fearful  and  delightful.  Many  a  proud  warrior  and 
conqueror,  who  has  waded  to  empire  and  renown  through 
rivers  of  blood ;  many  a  despot  who  has  filled  a  throne,  sup- 
ported by  the  oppression  of  hapless  millions ;  many  a  petty 
tyrant  who  has  inflicted  on  helpless  slaves,  or  other  inferiors, 
unceasing  misery  and  torment;  many  a  wealthy  miser,  who 
has  ground  the  faces  of  the  poor,  that  he  might  add  to  his 
splendid  hoards;  many  a  talented  infidel,  whose  writings 
have  gained  him  fame  on  earth,  while  they  have  led  thou* 
sands  to  perdition — many  of  all  these  characters  will  wish,  in 
all  the  agony  of  despair,  that  theirs  had  been  the  lot  of  the 
meanest  saint,  or  even  that  of  ordinary  sinners.  On  the 
other  hand,  thousands  of  those  whom  the  great  ones  of  this 
world  have  treated  with  scorn  or  pity ;  have  looked  down 
upon  as  mean  and  contemptible;  have  regarded  as  enthusi- 
asts or  fools ;  will  appear  to  have  been  the  excellent  of  the 
earth,  the  honoured  servants  and  children  of  God  while  they 
lived,  and.those  whom  he  will  now  delight  to  acknowledge, 
and  to  crown  with  unfading  honours,  in  the  view  of  the  as- 
sembled universe — To  these,  and  to  all  on  his  right  hand,  the 
Judge  will  say,  <*  come  ye  blessed  of  my  Father,  inherit  the 
kingdom  prepared  for  you  from  the  foundation  of  the  world." 
To  those  on  the  left  hand,  the  terrifick  sentence  will  be — 
"  Depart  from  me,  ye  cursed,  into  everlasting  fire  prepared 
for  the  devil  and  his  angels — And  these  shall  go  away  into 
everlasting  punishment,  but  the  righteous  into  life  eternal." 

In  closing  this  lecture  I  remark — 

1.  That  the  ascension  and  glorification  of  Christ,  demon- 
strate that  there  is  a  local  heaven — a  place  where  his  glorified 
body  resides,  where  he  is  now  the  object  of  admiration  and 
worship  by  angels  and  the  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect, 
and  to  which  all  his  saints  will  be  gathered  after  the  resurrec- 
tion ;  when  their  former  <*  vile  bodies  shall  be  fashioned  like 
unto  his  glorious  body,  according  to  the  working  whereby  he 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  345 

is  able  even  to  subdue  all  things  unto  himself."  We  know 
not,  and  it  is  not  necessary  to  know,  in  what  region  of  the  im- 
mensity of  space  this  local  heaven  is  placed.  It  is  enough  to 
know  that  it  exists,  and  that  we  are  permitted  to  aspire  to  an 
admission  to  it;  and  to  become  members  of  the  general  as- 
sembly and  church  of  the  first  born,  who  shall  there  sur- 
round the  Redeemer's  throne,  and  behold  his  glory,  in  a  bea- 
tifick  vision,  to  all  eternity. 

2.  Let  us  contemplate  with  holy  wonder  and  delight,  the 
state  of  our  Redeemer's  exaltation.  God's  ways  are  not  our 
ways,  nor  his  thoughts  our  thoughts.  In  all  that  he  does  he 
acts  like  himself — like  a  God.  But  in  the  work  of  redemp- 
tion there  appear  to  be  things,  more  wonderful  than  in  any  of 
his  other  works.  It  is  not  for  us  to  say,  whether  we  ought 
to  be  more  astonished  that  God  should  condescend  to  unite 
his  nature  to  ours,  or  to  raise  ours,  by  that  union,  to  the 
height  in  which  we  contemplate  it,  in  the  exalted  state  of  our 
Redeemer— a  height,  far  beyond  that  of  the  tallest  ang^l,  or 
the  brightest  seraph,  in  the  heavenly  host. 

"A  thousand  seraphs,  strong  and  bright. 

Stand  round  the  glorious  Deity ; 
But  who  amongst  the  sons  of  light 

Pretends  comparison  with  thee  ? 

"  Yet  there  is  one  of  human  frame, 

Jesus,  array 'd  in  flesh  and  blood, 
Thinks  it  no  robbery  to  claim 

A  full  equality  with  God. 

"  Their  glory  shines  with  equal  beams, 

Their  essence  is  for  ever  one  : 
Though  they  are  known  by  different  names, 

The  Father  God,  and  God  the  Son. 

"  Then  let  the  name  of  Christ  our  King 

With  equal  honours  be  ador'd ; 
His  praise  let  ev'ry  angel  sing ; 

And  all  the  nations  own  their  Lord." 

3.  Let  US  often  meditate  on  the  judgment  of  the  great  day. 
Let  us  keep  constantly  in  mind  that  for  all  we  do,  or  say, 
or  think,  God  will  bring  us  into  judgment :   that  then  all 

2x 


346  LECTURES  ON  THE 

those  actions  of  our  lives  which  we  may  now  most  studiously 
and  anxiously  endeavour  to  conceal  from  the  world,  and  to 
which  we  can  hardly  turn  our  own  thoughts  without  shame 
and  confusion;  yea,  that  all  the  secret  motives,  and  wishes, 
and  desires  of  our  souls,  which  have  never  eventuated  in  ac- 
tion— that  all  these  will  be  disclosed  to  the  universe,  and  that 
we  must  meet  them,  under  the  full  blaze  of  heaven,  at  the  tri- 
bunal of  Christ.  Oh !  if  the  recollection  of  this  truth  were 
kept  on  our  minds  as  it  ou2;ht  to  be,  it  would  have  the  most 
salutary  influence  on  our  whole  conduct.  Yes,  my  dear  youth, 
and  it  would  make  you  feel  how  important  it  is,  that  you  im- 
mediately flee  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ — that  being  pardoned 
through  his  blood,  and  clothed  with  his  righteousness,  you 
may  escape  the  condemnation  of  his  enemies,  and  receive 
the  acquittal  and  reward  of  his  friends,  in  the  day  when  *'  he 
shall  come  to  be  glorified  in  his  saints,  and  admired  in  all  them 
that  believe." 


LECTURE  XXVII. 

How  are  we  made  partakers  of  the  redemption  purchased  hy  Christ? 
How  doth  the  Spirit  apply  to  us  the  redemption  purchased  by  Christ? 
What  is  effectual  calling? 

The  next  subject  of  discourse  is  contained  in  the  29th  an- 
swer of  our  catechism,  and  is  thus  expressed — 

"  We  are  made  partakers  of  the  redemption,  purchased  by 
Christ,  by  the  effectual  application  of  it  to  us,  by  his  Holy 
Spirit."  . 

By  redemption  in  this  answer,  we  are  to  understand  the 
whole  of  that  salvation  which  is  revealed  and  exhibited  in  the 
Gospel.  This  redemption  is  said  to  be  purchased,  because, 
having  brought  ourselves  into  a  state  of  bondage  and  slavery, 
we  could  not  be  ransomed  but  at  a  great  price.  The  Saviour 
himself  declared,  that  he  came  "  to  give  his  life  a  ransom 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  S47 

ibr  many.'^  Now,  a  ransom,  you  know,  is  nothing;  else  than 
the  price  which  is  paid  for  the  liberty  of  a  captive  or  a  slave 
— "  Ye  were  not  redeemed  (says  the  apostle  Peter)  with  cor- 
ruptible thine;s  as  silver  and  gold — but  with  the  precious  blood 
of  Christ,  as  of  a  lamb  without  blemish  and  without  spot." 

Of  this  redemption  we  are,  in  the  answer  before  us,  said 
to  be  made  partakers: — That  is,  we  do  not  make  ourselves 
partakers,  because,  in  ourselves,  we  are  altog;ether  without 
strength,  as  the  apostle  affirms,  and  utterly  averse  to  spiritual 
good—**  Ye  will  not  come  to  me  that  ye  might  have  life," 
said  the  Saviour.  Redemption,  therefore,  is  applied  to  us  by 
the  Divine  agency —Not  that  we  are  treated  as  machines,  but 
dealt  with,  as  we  shall  see,  according  to  that  rational  nature 
which  God  has  given  us;  yet  so  that  the  application  is  truly 
of  Him.  In  this  application,  the  benefits  of  redemption,  in 
all  their  extent,  are  conferred  upon  us  and  made  our  own,  by 
way  oijree  gift. 

You  will  be  careful  to  observe,  that  it  is  as  necessary  to 
our  salvation  that  redemption  should  be  applied,  as  that  it 
should  be  purchased  or  procured.  As  medicines  will  not 
heal  us,  nor  clothes  warm  us,  nor  food  sustain  us,  unless  they 
are  used  ;  so  neither  will  ail  that  Christ  has  done  or  prepared 
for  us,  be  of  the  least  avail,  unless  it  is  applied: — Nay  it  will 
not  only  do  us  no  good,  but  it  will  sink  us  to  an  infinitely 
deeper  condemnation,  by  our  rejection  of  it. 

This  application  of  redemption  must  be  effectual.  It  must 
produce  the  effect  of  opening  the  eyes  of  sinners,  and  of  turn- 
ing them  from  darkness  to  light,  and  from  the  power  of  Sa- 
tan to  God.  There  is  an  outward  application,  or  exhibition 
rather,  of  the  benefits  of  redemption,  in  Chtistian  baptism, 
which  is  not  effectual :  that  is,  it  is  not  necessarily  and  uni- 
formly so.  Divine  and  saving  grace  may  be  imparted  in 
baptism,  as  it  may  at  any  other  time.  But  we  think  it  un- 
scriptural,  and  prartically  dangerous,  to  say  that  it  is  always 
a  concomitant  of  that  ordinance.  Simon  Magus  was  baptized, 
and  yet  we  have  no  reason  to  think  that  there  was  ever  a  mo- 
ment in  which  he  ceased  to  be  "  in  the  gall  of  bitterness  and 


348  LECTURES  ON  THE 

in  the  bond  of  iniquity" — previously  to  the  time  when  these 
words  were  used  by  the  apostle,  as  descriptive  of  his  then  mi- 
serable state.  Baptismal  regeneration,  it  is  to  be  feared,  has 
often  proved  a  dangerous  and  fatal  reliance,  to  those  who 
have  built  their  hopes  upon  it. 

The  application  of  redemption  is  the  ofl5ce  and  work  of  the 
Holy  Spirit;  the  third  person  of  the  adorable  Trinity,  called 
the  Holy  Spirit,  because  he  is  essentially  holy;  and  because 
all  his  works  and  operations  are  of  a  like  nature  or  character 
with  himself.  Whatever  holiness  is  ever  found  in  the  human 
heart,  is  the  effect  of  the  operations  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  It  is 
to  be  remembered,  that  in  the  great  work  of  our  redemption, 
the  three  persons  in  the  sacred  Trinity,  are  all  and  equally 
concerned.  Redemption  is  ordained  by  the  Father,  pur- 
chased by  the  Son,  and  applied  by  the  Spirit. 

The  Holy  Spirit  is  called  in  the  answer  before  us  his  Spi- 
rit (that  is,  the  spirit  of  Christ,)  because  he  is  sent  for  this 
work  more  immediately  by  Christ,  and  through  his  mediation, 
and  as  the  fruit  of  his  purchase.  "  It  is  expedient  for  you 
(said  the  Saviour)  that  I  go  away ;  for,  if  I  go  not  away,  the 
Comforter  will  not  come  unto  you;  but,  if  I  depart,  I  will 
send  him  unto  you" — and  afterward — "  He  shall  glorify  me, 
for  he  shall  receive  of  mine,  and  shall  show  it  unto  you." 
Here  it  also  appears,  that  in  the  application  of  redemption  by 
the  Holy  Spirit,  he  makes  use  of  the  truths  of  the  written 
word.  These  truths,  when  communicated  by  reading  and 
preaching,  he  effectually  shows  to  the  soul,  so  as  to  obtain  its 
cordial  approbation  of  them:  and  hence  you  see  both  our  ob- 
ligation and  encouragement,  to  attend  diligently  and  carefully 
to  the  word  of  God,  and  to  pray  for  his  blessed  Spirit,  to  give 
it  a  saving  application  to  our  hearts. — This  leads  us  to  consi- 
der the  next  answer  in  the  Catechism,  which  is — 

"  The  Spirit  applieth  to  us  the  redemption  purchased  by 
Christ,  by  working  faith  in  us,  and  thereby  uniting  us  to 
Christ  in  our  effectual  calling."  In  our  natural  state,  we  are 
all  connected  with  our  first  covenant  head,  Adam,  and  are 
subjected  with  him  to  the  penalty  of  the  broken  covenant  of 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  349 

works.  When  we  are  interested  savingly  in  the  redemption 
of  Christ,  it  is  done  by  taking  us  away  from  our  former  cove- 
nant state,  and  bringing  us  under  the  covenant  of  grace,  in 
which  the  Saviour,  as  our  new  covenant  head,  has  coiDpletely 
ans*vered  all  the  demands  of  the  first  covenant  in  behalf 
of  all  his  people.  Now,  this  is  done,  by  "  uniting  us  to 
Christy'-  as  the  Catechism  expresses  it;  uniting  us  to  Christ 
the  sficond  Adam,  who  repairs  and  restores  the  ruins  of  the 
first.  This  union  with  Christ  does,  as  it  were,  identify  the 
soul  of  every  believer  with  him ;  so  that  in  virtue  of  this 
union,  the  believer  is  entitled  to  all  that  Christ  has  merited, 
purchased,  and  promised.  This  union  is  no  technical  fiction 
of  theology.  It  is  often  mentioned  and  dwelt  on  in  scr'pfure, 
in  the  most  interesting  manner.  The  blessed  Redeemer  him- 
self appeared  to  dwell  on  it  with  delight,  in  his  lastinterce:>sory 
prayer — to  dwell  with  delight  on  the  oneness  of  himseii  and 
his  redeemed  people.  It  is  compared  in  scripture  to  the 
union  between  husband  and  wife,  between  the  head  and  the 
members,  between  the  root  and  the  branches,  between  the 
foundation  and  the  superstructure. 

The  bond  of  this  union  on  our  part  \s  faith.  Faith  is  that 
grace  which  instrumentally  links  the  believing  soul  to  the  Sa- 
viour;  or  ingrafts  it  into  him;  or  makes  it  a  part  of  his  mys- 
tical body.  This  faiih  is  wrought  in  the  soul  by  the  Holy 
Spirit — it  is  a  grace  of  his  production.  *^  By  grace  are  ye 
saved  through  faith,  and  that  not  of  yourselves,  it  is  the  gift 
of  God."  In  a  word  then,  the  bonds  of  this  union  are  (he 
Spirit,  on  Christ's  part,  and  faith  on  our  part ;  both  these 
concur  in  their  order.  Christ,  in  the  language  of  the  Aposiie 
Paul,  FIRST  apprehends  the  sinner  by  his  Spirit,  and  the  sin- 
ner THEN  apprehends  Christ  by  faith.  It  is  in  the  great  work 
of  our  effectual  calling,  that  the  Spirit  thus  apprehends,  or 
takes  an  effectual  hold  on  the  soul  of  a  sinner,  unites  it  to 
Christ,  and  thus  insures  its  salvation.  This  introduces  the 
next  answer  in  the  Catechism — 

"  Efiectual  calling  is  the  work  of  God's  Spirit,  whereby  con- 
vincing us  of  our  sin  and  misery,  enlightening  our  minds  in 


350  LECTURES  ON  THE 

the  knowledsje  of  Christ,  and  renewing  our  wills,  he  doth 
persuade  and  enable  us  to  embrace  Jesus  Christ,  freely  offered 
to  us  in  the  gospel  "  The  two  last  questions  and  answers, 
which  we  have  just  considered ^  are  but  preparatory  and  in- 
troductory to  this.  In  that  which  is  now  before  you,  my 
dear  youth,  you  have  an  account  of  that  great  inward  work^ 
which  must  take  plade  in  each  of  your  hearts,  if  you  ever 
enter  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  This  answer,  therefore,  is  in- 
finitely important  to  you  all — Not  one  in  the  system  can  be 
compared  with  it,  in  practical  interest,  to  those  of  you  who 
are  thinking  with  some  seriousness  about  religion;  and  yet 
do  not  suppose  that  you  have  at  present,  the  religion  which 
will  save  your  souls.  Here  you  are  told  what  such  religion 
is,  and  how  it  comes  to  be  possessed.  Will  you  not  attend 
to  this  with  all  the  powers  of  your  minds?  Will  you  not 
try  to  understand  what  effectual  calling  is,  and  to  accompany 
the  hearing  with  prayer,  that  God  may  make  you  the  sub- 
jects of  it  ? 

Here  I  have  a  few  preliminary  observations  to  offer,  which 
may  serve  to  shorten  the  subsequent  discussion;  and  which 
to  me  appear  of  great  practical  importance  in  themselves.  I 
remark  then,  that  it  is  difficult  to  preserve  almost  any  truth 
from  being  abused.  It  may  be  abused,  not  only  by  design, 
but  by  negligence  and  inattention — we  slide  into  the  abuse: 
and  in  this  manner  I  suspect  that  an  abuse  has  been,  and 
now  is,  practised  by  a  great  many,  on  the  following  un- 
doubted truths,  namely:  that  effectual  calling,  or  true  con- 
version, (which  is  the  same  thing)  is  a  great  work; — that  a 
marvellous  change  then  takes  place  in  the  mind; — that  there 
are  cases  in  which  it  takes  place  suddenly,  and  almost  mira- 
culously ; — that  these  cases  happen  frequently  at  those  sea- 
sons which  are  called  revivals  of  religion,  when  almost  every 
body  is  affected,  and  converts  are  wonderfully  multiplied. 
All  these  I  firmly  believe  to  be  truths — important  truths; 
and  God  forbid  that  I  should  say  a  word  to  disparage  them. 
But  1  really  think  they  are  often  abused,  and  that  impercep- 
tibly, by  those  that  hold  them.     Pious  people  themselves 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  351 

may  abuse  them;  so  as  not  to  look  for  the  conversion  of  their 
children,  but  in  some  striking  manner,  or  at  some  remarkable 
season  of  the  outpouring  of  the  Spirit  of  grace.  And  if  this 
be  so,  youth,  who  have  received  a  Christian  education,  and  who 
have  some  seriousness  of  mind  without  practical  piety,  are 
still  more  likely  to  practise  this  abuse — I  believe  they  do 
practise  it  among  ourselves.  They  think  that  regeneration 
is  a  supernatural  change;  that  it  must  take  place  in  such  a 
marvellous  manner,  and  that  all  they  can  do,  in  an  ordinary 
way,  has  so  little  connexion  with  it,  that  they  may  even  give 
it  up,  as  a  hopeless  thing  to  themselves,  till  some  time  of  ge- 
neral awakening  comes;  when,  as  they  suppose,  they  shall  be 
taken  hold  of  powerfully  (they  know  not  how,)  and  become 
pious  Christians  along  with  the  multitude.  Now  here  is  a 
great  abuse  of  the  truths  which  have  been  specified.  Rege- 
neration is  indeed  a  great  and  supernatural  change;  but  the 
effectual  calling  which  issues  in  it,  often  takes  place  so  gra- 
dually, and  is  so  mingled  with  the  effects  of  natural  con- 
science, of  increasing  light  and  good  education,  that  the  most 
undoubted  subjects  of  it,  oftentimes  cannot  trace  distinctly  in 
their  own  minds,  the  steps  by  which  they  have  arrived  at  it. 
Revivals  of  religion  are  glorious  periods,  in  which  great  addi- 
tions are,  in  a  short  time,  made  to  the  church.  Yet,  take  all 
those  additions  together,  and  probably  many  more  have  hi- 
therto been  effectually  called,  at  times  when  there  were  no 
special  or  general  revivals,  than  in  all  the  times  at  which  such 
revivals  have  existed.*  The  practical  use  therefore  which  I 
wish  you  to  make  of  these  remarks  is  this — Not  so  to  con- 
ceive of  effectual  calling,  or  true  conversion,  as  to  suppose 
that  you  are  not  to  seek  it,  look  for  it,  and  hope  for  it,  but  in 
some  wonderful  way,  or  at  some  extraordinary  time.  God 
works  on  different  minds  in  different  methods.     When  per- 

*  These  lectures  were  delivered  in  the  winters  of  the  years  1811  and  1812. 
Since  that  period,  revivals  of  religion  have  happily  been  so  numerous  in  our 
own  country,  as  probably  to  render  the  above  statement,  in  an  exclusive  refe- 
rence to  the  United  States,  not  correct,  so  far  as  the  present  generation  is 
concerned.  But  the  statement  refers  to  the  Christian  world  at  large;  and 
thus  taken,  it  is  still  believed  to  be  true>  and  therefore  it  has  been  permittei! 
to  stand  as  originally  made. 


352  LECTURES  ON  THE 

sons  have  received  a  religious  education,  have  been  preserved 
from  out-breaking  sins,  have  always  possessed  tenderness  of 
conscience,  have  not  neglected  prayer,  have  careftUly  at- 
tended on  publick  ordinances,  and  been  familiar  with  their 
Bibles ; — they  are  often  eflectu;^lly  called,  and  soundly  con- 
verted, without  any  great  convulsion  of  the  soul.  There  is, 
no  doubt,  a  period  when  divine  grace  is  first  implanted,  but 
the  subject  of  it  cannot  tell  when  To  his  apprehension  it 
seems  only  as  if  his  seriousness  and  light  have  gradually  in- 
creased, till  at  length,  and  after  a  good  deal  of  doubt,  he  can 
sa/,  that  whereas  he  was  once  blind  now  he  sees.  And  I 
have  long  remarked  that  Christians  who  can  give  only  this 
account  of  themselves,  are  frequently  among  those  w^ho  are 
most  exemplary,  most  humble,  most  improving,  most  stead- 
fast, iind  most  fruitful  in  their  Christian  profession.  My 
children,  you  have  been  religiously  educated — many  of  you 
I  trust,  have  never  lost  your  tenderness  of  conscience,  nor 
wholly  neglected  prayer  to  God.  Cherish  the  sensibility  of 
your  consciences;  beg  God  to  enlighten  you  more  and  more; 
beg  him  to  impart  his  grace  to  change  your  hearts,  that 
you  may  be  regenerated,  ahhough  there  should  be.no  general 
revival  of  religion.  But,  indeed,  what  have  I  said  ? — If  you 
would  all  take  this  advice,  it  would  make  a  revival,  and  one 
too,  of  the  most  hopeful  kind — Happy  will  be  those  indivi- 
duals, who  shall  take  the  advice,  let  the  number  who  reject 
it,  be  what  it  may. 

Let  us  now  consider  the  first  clause  of  the  answer  before 
us,  which  stands  thus — <*  Effectual  calling  is  the  work  of 
God's  spirit." 

The  difference  between  an  act  and  a  worky  has  been  ex- 
plained to  many  of  you,  when  you  repeated  your  catechism 
to  your  pastors.  An  act  is  a  single  exertion  or  operation, 
and  takes  place  and  is  finished  at  once.  A  work  is  a  series, 
or  continuation  of  acts  or  operations;  and  continues  for  some 
length  of  time.  Now  as  effectual  calling  consists,  as  the  an- 
swer shows,  of  several  progressive  steps,  it  is,  of  course,  a 
tvork.    It  should  however  be  observed  and  recollected,  that 


SHORTER    CATECHISM.  353 

the  several  steps  or  gradations  of  advance  in  this  work,  al- 
though capable  of  being  separately  considered,  are  not  so  se- 
parated in  experience,  as  that  one  is  always  completed  before 
another  is  begun.  In  discourse  we  can  distinguish  them,  and 
it  is  useful  to  do  so.  But  when  they  take  place  in  the  mind 
of  an  individual,  the  exercises  which  constitute  them,  are 
often,  to  a  certain  degree,  mingled  together.  The  subjects 
of  these  exercises  are  not  like  persons  making  advances  in 
science.  They  do  not  make  one  finished  attainment,  and 
then  pass  on  to  another,  in  a  regular  and  unvaried  course. 
On  the  contrary,  he  who  is  effectually  called,  seldom,  per- 
haps, thinks  of  the  several  parts  or  steps  of  his  calling,  till  the 
whole  is  completed;  when,  by  reflection,  he  may  perceive 
that  he  has  shared  in  all. 

The  word  calling,  in  the  answer  before  us,  deserves  your 
particular  notice.  Men  are  outwardly  called  to  repentance 
and  newness  of  life,  by  providential  dispensations,  and  espe> 
daily  by  the  preaching  of  the  gospel.  These  calls  however 
are  often  not  effectual — Alas!  how  few  regard  them  as  they 
ought.  But  the  calling  which  we  here  contemplate  is  never 
disregarded.  It  may  be,  and  usually  is,  effected  by  outward 
means,  and  yet  it  sometimes  seems  to  take  place  without 
them.  It  is  however  inward  in  its  nature,  reaching  to  all 
the  powers  and  recesses  of  the  soul,  and  engaging  them  most 
earnestly  in  the  great  work  of  turning  from  sin  to  holiness^ 
from  the  power  of  Satan  unto  God.  Hence  it  is  denominated 
an  effectual  call ;  and  is  very  frequently  mentioned  in  sacred 
scripture,  where  the  people  of  God  are  said  to  be  "  called 
according  to  his  purpose;"  and  "  called  to  be  saints;"  and 
to  be  "partakers  of  the  heavenly  calling;"  and  are  exhorted 
to  "give  all  diligence  to  make  their  calling  and  election 
sure;"  and  of  whom  it  is  said,  "  Who  [i.  e.  God]  hath  saved 
us,  and  called  us  with  a  holy  calling;  not  according  to  our 
works,  but  according  to  his  own  purpose  and  grace,  which 
was  given  us  in  Christ  Jesus  before  the  world  began."  It  is 
the  special  office  of  the  Holy  and  blessed  Spirit  of  God,  to 
give  this  inward  and  effectual  call  to  the  soul:  and  his  sacred 

2y 


.354  LECTURES  ON  THE 

influences  are  constantly  to  be  sought  in  prayer,  for  this  pur- 
pose. 

In  effectual  calling,  the  first  step  is  to  convince  us  suitably 
of  our  sin  and  misery.  There  are  very  few  who  will  not 
acknowledge  that  they  are  sinners.  Sometimes,  when  natu- 
ral conscience  is  wounded  by  the  commission  of  enormous 
and  reproachful  sins,  the  sense  of  guilt  may  be  exceedingly 
pungent.  But  all  this  is,  too  often,  transient  in  its  duration, 
and  imperfect  in  its  nature.  It  is  quite  another  matter  when 
the  Holy  Spirit  performs  this  work,  as  a  part  of  effectual 
calling.  Then  a  conviction  of  guilt  is  bound  on  the  con- 
science, and  an  abiding  sense  of  misery  is  felt,  under  the  ap- 
prehension of  the  divine  displeasure.  In  some,  and  especially 
in  those  who  have  been  great  and  flagitious  offenders,  the 
pain  arising  from  this  conviction  of  sin,  and  consequent  ap- 
prehension of  the  divine  wrath,  is  awful  indeed.  The  know- 
ledge of  this,  and  the  dread  of  it  in  their  own  case,  some- 
times makes  unsanctified  sinners  stifle  the  conviction  of 
sin,  when  it  begins  to  take  place.  A  fear  of  the  pain  which 
may  attend  on  true  repentance,  is,  I  am  persuaded,  often  the 
reason  why  serious  impressions  are  banished  and  dissipated. 
But  this  is  unspeakably  foolish,  in  every  view.  Suppose  it 
the  most  painful  that  is  ever  realized,  and  it  is  still  infinitely 
rather  to  be  chosen  than  the  eternal  pains  of  hell.  But  the 
apprehension  is,  in  most  cases,  imaginary  altogether.  Even 
in  great  prodigals,  true  repentance  is  often  a  gentle  work, 
although  it  is  ever  a  deep  one.  The  account  which  the  emi- 
nent John  Newton  has  published  of  himself,  furnishes  a  re- 
markable instance  of  this:  and  the  narrative  which  Bishop 
Barnet  has  given  of  the  repentance  of  the  profligate  Earl  of 
Rochester,  is  not  much  different.  Oftentimes,  indeed,  pious 
people  have  wished  that  their  convictions  of  sin  had  been  far 
more  keen  and  painful  than  they  have  ever  felt.  The  Holy 
Spirit  deals  with  each  individual  in  this  respect,  in  a  wise  and 
sovereign  manner.  Some  are  convinced  suddenly,  and  others 
gradually — Some  more,  and  others  less  painfully.  In  some, 
the  whole  process  seems  like  the  natural  effect  of  reflection 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  o55 

and  consideration,  and  a  degree  of  hope  is  mingled  with  con- 
viction from  the  very  first. 

But  in  whatever  way  genuine  conviction  of  sin  takes 
place,  the  essence  of  it  is  this— The  sinner  is  made  thorough- 
ly sensihie  that  he  is,  by  nature  and  by  practice,  a  guilty, 
polluted,  inexcusable  offender,  before  his  God;  and  that  he 
is  in  a  truly  miserable  state,  from  having  lost  the  friendship 
of  his  Maker,  and  being  exposed  to  his  just  and  endless  dis- 
pleasure. These  perceptions,  resting  and  abiding  with  weight 
on  the  mind,  constitute  the  essence  of  this  part  of  the  work: 
And  these  are  necessary,  not  because  there  is  any  merit  in 
them,  for  there  is  none;  nor  because  by  themselves  they  con- 
stitute true  religion,  for  they  do  not — If  any  rest  here,  they 
rest  short  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  But  a  sense  of  guilt  and 
misery  is  necessary  to  make  the  sinner  loath  himself,  and 
abhor  his  sin;  and  to  render  him  earnest  in  seeking  a  Saviour, 
and  ready  to  accept  him  as  he  is  offered. 

Accordingly,  the  next  step  in  effectual  calling,  as  stated  in 
the  answer  before  us,  is — *'  enlightening  our  minds  in  the 
knowledge  of  Christ."  *'  What  must  I  do  to  be  saved?"  will 
be  the  importunate  demand  of  every  sinner,  convinced  of  his 
guilt  iu  the  manner  just  described.  This  inquiry,  indeed, 
may  not  be  always  uttered  to  others,  but  it  will  always  be 
felt  by  the  individual  concerned,  in  all  its  force.  You  will 
now  see  him  reading  the  word  of  God  (if  he  be  able  to  read 
it)  with  a  care  and  an  attention  to  which  he  had  before  been 
unaccustomed  ;  and  seeking  for  instruction  from  the  pulpit, 
from  books,  or  from  conversation,  with  the  deepest  interest. 

Making  use  of  these  means,  the  Holy  Spirit,  either  more 
suddenly  or  more  gradually  (for  there  is  as  much  diversity 
here  as  in  the  former  particular)  enlightens  the  mind  into  the 
knowledge  of  Christ.  The  understanding  is  opened  to  un- 
derstand the  scriptures;  to  discern  with  some  clearness  the 
gospel  plan  of  salvation  by  Christ;  to  perceive  the  practical 
use  of  his  offices;  to  receive  the  knowledge  of  his  atonement, 
righteousness  and  fulness — To  see,  in  a  word,  that  he  is  a 
Saviour  of  matchless  excellence,  inexhaustible  sufficiency. 


356  LECTURES  ON  THE 

and  unspeakable  suitableness.  Much  may  have "  heretofore 
been  heard  about  Christ  by  the  anxious  sinner;  but  novvj 
feeling  as  he  does  a  deep  interest  in  his  inquiries,  and  being 
enlightened  by  the  Spirit  of  unerring  truth,  he  sees  with  an 
impression  never  known  before,  that  Christ  Jesus  is  indeed 
a  Saviogr,  exactly  fitted  to  his  state  and  necessities;  able  to 
save  to  the  very  uttermost  all  that  come  unto  God  by  him; 
and  willing  to  save,  without  money  and  without  price.  He 
sees  too,  that  Christ  is  freely  tendered — sincerely  offered, 
with  all  his  benefits,  to  every  one  who  is  willing  to  accept 
him. 

Some  have  much  clearer  and  fuller  views  of  the  kind  here 
described  than  others.  But  it  is  essential  to  all,  that  they 
come  to  understand  and  be  persuaded,  that  there  is  really 
"no  salvation  in  any  other"  but  in  Christ  alone;  and  that  he 
is  able  and  willing  to  save  all  those  who  truly  commit  their 
souls  into  his  hands.  There  must  be  such  an  understanding 
and  persuasion  of  these  great  and  glorious  truths,  as  shall  pro- 
duce a  real,  engaged,  and  pressing  desire,  to  obtain  a  personal 
interest  in,  and  union  with  Christ. 

The  re7iewi7ig  of  the  will  is  the  next  step  in  effectual  call- 
ing. In  this  the  very  essence  of  regeneration  consists.  The 
will  is  the  seat,  so  to  speak,  of  the  moral  action  of  the  soul. 
Here  lies  our  depravity  in  our  natural  state — The  will  and  af- 
fections have  taken  a  wrong  bias — they  are  obstinately  set  on 
sin,  and  opposed  to  holiness.  You  cannot  force  them  to 
change  that  bias.  It  is  the  bias  of  nature — of  corrupt  nature 
— and  it  requires  the  interposition  of  the  God  of  nature — of 
him  who  can  give  us  a  new  nature — to  change  this  bias.  You 
may  reason  as  you  will,  you  may  be  fully  convinced  yourself 
that  the  course  of  sin  is  wrong  and  ruinous;  but  still  there  is 
that  wretched,  prevalent,  unchanged,  sinful  propensity,  re- 
maining in  all  its  force.  Persons  under  those  exercises  which 
are  included  in  effectual  calling,  sometimes  get  to  see  this 
truth  in  a  very  clear  and  strong  light.  I  once  conversed  with 
a  sensible  female,  in  this  state  of  mind,  who  told  me  that  she 
was  satisfied  of  all  that  I  have  stated  in  the  preceding  part  of 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  357 

this  discussion;  satisfied  that  it  must  be  a  supernatural  agent 
that  had  engaged  her  attention  to  the  state  of  her  soul;  satis- 
fied that  she  was  a  guilty  and  perishing  sinner;  satisfied  too 
that  Christ  was  both  able  and  willing  to  save  her  soul.  "  But, 
ah !  (said  she)  I  have  no  will  to  choose  and  commit  my  soul 
to  him  for  salvation,  in  the  way  he  requires ;  I  have  no  afiec- 
tion  for  him  at  all— and  without  this  I  certainly  perish. 
What  shall  I  do !"  The  answer  was—the  same  God  who  has 
brought  you  thus  far,  can  carry  you  through— can  powerfully 
and  sweetly  dispose  you  to  embrace  the  Saviour.  Then  I 
saw  exemplified,  what  I  before  well  knew  to  be  a  fact,  that  the 
doctrine  of  our  dependance  on  God  for  his  grace  (against 
which  some  quarrel  so  bitterly)  is  the  most  encouraging  doc- 
trine in  the  world,  to  a  mind  truly  enlightened,  and  rightly 
exercised — The  thought  that  God  might,  and  perhaps  would, 
do  for  her,  what  she  clearly  saw  she  would  never  do  for  her- 
self, saved  this  woman  from  despair — And  very  shortly  after- 
wards, what  she  looked  for  was  realized.  Her  will  and  afiec- 
tions,  did  in  the  most  full  and  delightful  manner,  choose  and 
centre  in  Christ,  as  all  her  salvation  and  all  her  desire.  This 
however  was,  I  know,  a  case  in  which  the  party  concerned 
had  uncommonly  clear  views  of  the  state  of  her  own  soul.  In 
hundreds  and  thousands  of  instances,  where  the  change  is  as 
real  and  as  genuine  as  that  I  have  mentioned,  the  progress  of 
the  mind  is  not  observed  or  seen,  with  any  such  distinctness 
—The  will  and  affections  are  found  to  be  changed;  but,  for  a 
time  at  least,  it  is  not  known  by  the  party  how,  or  when  it 
was  done.  President  Edwards  states  this  to  have  been  the 
case  with  himself.  He  was  always  a  close  thinker — He  was 
anxious  about  the  state  of  his  soul,  and  was  praying  and  exa- 
mining divine  truth.  He  had  quarrelled,  long  and  ardently, 
with  the  doctrines  of  divine  grace  and  sovereignty.  At 
length,  he  says,  he  seemed  to  understand  and  see  a  glory  in 
them,  that  made  him  love  them.  But  he  thought,  at  the  time, 
that  he  only  happened  to  get  the  true  view  of  them,  which  he 
had  not  been  able  to  take  before.  A  true  view  indeed  it  was; 
but  he  afterwards  discovered  that  the  change  was  in  his  heart 


358  LECTURES  ON  THE 

— in  his  will  and  affections — and  not  in  any  new  intellectual 
perceptions  of  the  subject  itself. 

This  change  of  the  will  and  affections  is  the  peculiar  work 
of  the  Holy  Spirit.  It  is  done,  in  the  view  of  divine  truth, 
but  the  Spirit  is  the  agent.  How  he  does  it,  we  know  not. 
It  is  expressly  likened,  in  scripture,  to  the  influence  of  the 
wind — a  powerful  but  an  invisible  agent.  We  know,  ho^v- 
ever,  that  no  violence  or  compulsive  influence  is  used.  The 
creature  acts,  all  the  time,  with  the  most  perfect  freedom. 
All  we  can  say  is — "  He  is  made  willing  in  a  day  of  God's 
power." 

After  the  renovation  of  the  will,  the  soul,  under  the  same 
sacred  influence  by  w^hich  the  renewal  was  effected,  is  "  per- 
suaded and  enabled  to  embrace  Jesus  Christ,  freely  offered  to 
us  in  the  gospel" — This  has  been  so  much  anticipated,  that 
it  will  not  be  necessary  to  detain  you  long  with  it.  The  em- 
bracing of  Christ  as  he  is  freely  offered  in  the  gospel,  or  the 
exercise  of  saving  faith,  is  the  act  of  a  new  nature.  The  old 
man  is  corrupt,  and  never  puts  forth  a  holy  exercise;  and  it 
is  evident  that  the  new^  nature  must  exist  before  it  can  act. 
But  it  always  acts  faith  in  Christ,  when  it  does  exist.  The 
same  blessed  Spirit  who  changes  the  heart,  certainly,  and  in 
all  instances,  leads  it  to  Jesus  Christ,  and  in  the  language  of 
the  answer,  "  persuades  and  enables  it  to  embrace  him."  This 
is  most  happily  expressed.  The  soul  sees  such  an  excellence, 
amiableness,  and  suitableness  in  Christ,  under  the  Spirit's  in- 
fluence, that  it  is  ready  to  say — "  How  can  I  possibly  refuse 
to  obey,  trust  and  love,  such  a  Saviour — He  is  altogether 
lovely,  he  is  the  chief  among  ten  thousands."  Thus,  it  is 
persuaded:  And  aided  by  the  same  blessed  agent,  it  is  also 
enabled,  in  the  truest  and  most  unreserved  nianner,  to  em- 
brace Christ — To  receive  him  wilh  open  arms,  and  to  lay  hold 
of  him  as  emphatically  the  Saviour  of  the  soul— placing  all 
its  dependance,  truly  and  delightfully,  on  him  alone,  for  a 
complete  salvation ;  for  pardon,  justification,  sanctification, 
preservation  and  eternal  life. 

Here  again,  it  is  to  be  noted,  that  the  clearness  and  sensi- 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  359 

bility  with  which  different  true  believers  close  with  Christ,  is 
very  various.  With  some  it  is  done  with  rapture  and  ecstasy. 
By  others  it  is  done  with  great  calmness.  And  by  many,  I 
doubt  not,  who  do  it  truly,  it  is  done  so  feebly  and  faintly,  or 
rather,  with  such  indistinct  perceptions  of  their  own  real  acts, 
that  they  long  doubt  and  fear  whether  they  have  done  it  at 
all.  But  what  is  essential  is,  really,  practically,  and  heartily 
to  approve  of  the  w^ay  of  salvation  by  Christ,  and  rest  and 
trust  in  him,  as  the  "all  in  all"  of  the  soul— Those  who  do 
this  embrace  him  in  a  saving  manner — The  Lord  grant  that 
you  and  I,  my  dear  youth,  may  thus  embrace  him  to  our  eter- 
nal benefit.     Amen. 


LECTURE  XXVIII. 

What  benefits  do  they  that  are  effectually  called  partake  of  in  this 
life? 

What  is  justification? 

We  are  to  begin  the  present  lecture  with  considering  that — 
"  They  that  are  effectually  called,  do  in  this  life  partake  of  jus- 
tification, adoption,  and  sanctification;  and  the  several  benefits 
which,  in  this  life,  do  either  accompany  or  flow  from  them." 
This  answer  is  to  be  considered  chiefly  as  introductory  to  se- 
veral answers  which  follow  it.  To  enter  far  into  any  of  the 
subjects  of  these  answers  would,  you  perceive,  be  only  to  an- 
ticipate what  a  proper  discussion  of  those  topics  will  demand, 
when  they  come  in  order  before  us.  All  therefore  that  I 
shall  remark  farther,  on  the  answer  now  in  our  view  is,  that  it 
should  serve  to  impress  on  our  minds  this  important  truth, — 
that  all  the  blessings  and  benefits  of  redemption  are  indissolu- 
bly  connected,  or  linked  together;  and  that  they  are  all  in- 
sured to  every  individual,  who  is  effectually  called  by  the 
grace  of  God  to  that  vital  union  with  Christ  which  was  de- 
scribed in  the  last  lecture.     Hear  the  words  of  infallible 


360  LECTURES  ON  THE 

truth — "  For  whom  he  did  foreknow,  he  also  did  predesti- 
nate to  be  conformed  to  the  image  of  his  Son,  that  he  might 
be  the  first  born  among  many  brethren  :  Moreover,  whom  he 
did  predestinate,  them  he  also  called ;  and  whom  he  called, 
them  he  also  justified ;  and  whom  he  justified,  them  he  also 
glorified.'' 

Let  us  now  consider  the  next  interesting  answer  in  the 
catechism — "  Justification  is  an  act  of  God's  free  grace, 
wherein  he  pardoneth  all  our  sins,  and  accepteth  us  as  righte- 
ous in  his  sight;  only  for  the  righteousness  of  Christ  imputed 
to  us,  and  received  by  faith  alone."  In  this  answer  is  ex- 
plained God's  method  of  forgiving  sinners  and  receiving  them 
into  his  favour,  as  it  is  revealed  in  the  gospel;  and  which, 
but  for  that  revelation,  we  could  never  have  known.  Here 
the  great  problem  is  solved,  which  perplexed  and  confounded 
all  the  heathen  moralists  and  philosophers,  namely,  how  God 
can  pardon  sin  in  consistency  with  his  own  honour  and  glory. 
Here  it  is  shown,  that  God  can  be  just,  and  yet  the  justifier 
of  him  that  believeth  in  Jesus.  What  wretched  folly,  as  well 
as  wickedness  is  it,  for  any  who  call  themselves  Christians, 
to  deny  this  doctrine;  to  ungospelize  the  gospel;  to  throw 
themselves  back  into  all  the  darkness  of  heathenism ;  to  have 
no  ground  to  hope  for  pardon,  but  that  which  is  common  to 
them  and  to  those  who  are  denominated  virtuous  pagans.  It 
was  well  said  by  Luther,  that  the  doctrine  of  justification  be- 
fore God,  by  the  imputed  righteousness  of  Christ  alone,  is 
the  doctrine  of  a  standing  or  a  falling  church — meaning,  that 
the  church  which  maintains  this  doctrine,  in  its  purity  and 
fulness,  will  prosper ;  and  that  no  other  can  or  will. 

You  will  recollect  my  dear  youth,  that  when  we  discussed 
the  nature  of  our  Redeemer's  priestly  ofiice,  I  showed  you  at 
some  length,  the  weakness  and  fallacy  of  the  objections  which 
the  enemies  of  gospel  truth  bring  against  the  doctrine  of  im- 
putation ;  both  as  it  relates  to  the  imputation  of  the  sins  of  his 
people  to  their  Surety  Saviour,  and  the  imputation  of  his  per- 
fect righteousness  to  them.  Our  attention  at  this  time,  there- 
fore, need  not  be  arrested  or  interrupted,  by  removing  those 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  361 

objections.  We  may  go  on  without  delay  in  the  presentation 
and  illustration  of  this  precious  and  fundamental  truth  of  the 
gospel,  just  as  it  is  given  to  us  in  the  sacred  scriptures,  and 
expressed  in  the  answer  before  us. 

Our  first  object  must  be  to  obtain  a  clear  understanding  of 
the  word  justification  itself.  You  will,  then,  be  careful  to 
observe  that  this  is  what  is  called  2i  juridical  term — that  is,  it 
is  a  word  used  in,  and  borrowed  from,  courts  of  justice  among 
men.  When  a  person  who  has  been  arraigned,  or  brought  to 
the  bar,  is,  upon  trial  or  inquiry,  pronounced  by  the  judge  to 
be  righteous,  and  in  open  court  acquitted  and  discharged — 
such  a  person  is  said  to  be  justified.  Much  pains  have  been 
taken  by  those  who  are,  from  various  reasons,  opposed  to  the 
gospel  doctrine  of  justification,  to  show  that  the  word  does 
not  always  in  sacred  scripture  carry  with  it  the  import  of  a 
judicial  sentence  of  acquittal.  Witsius,  in  his  Economy  of  the 
Covenants,  under  the  article  justification^  an  article  which 
will  richly  reward  the  pains  of  any  of  you  who  will  read  it 
carefully — Witsius  has  there  shown  in  a  most  accurate  and 
satisfactory  manner,  what  are  the  several  senses  of  this  word, 
both  in  the  Old  Testament  and  the  New — for  it  frequently 
occurs  in  both.  And  he  has  most  unequivocally  proved  that 
its  forensic  or  juridical  signification,  is  not  only  its  primary 
and  general  sense,  but  its  invariable  meaning,  whenever  it  is 
used  to  denote  a  sinner's  acquittal  before  his  God.  A  single 
remark  may  make  this  evident.  It  is  opposed  to  condemna- 
tion— as  in  that  passage  "  it  is  God  who  justifieth,  who  is  he 
that  condemneth?"  Now,  as  condemnation  does  never  im- 
ply the  making  of  a  person  guilty,  but  the  sentence  pro- 
nounced on  him  for  being  so,  in  like  manner,  its  contrasted 
term  justification,  cannot  mean  the  making  of  a  person 
righteous,  but  the  declaration  that  he  is  righteous.  To  jus- 
tify a  person,  then,  is  not  to  make  him  righteous,  but  to 
declare  him  to  be  so,  upon  the  ground  of  law  and  the  trial 
of  a  competent  judge.  It  is  in  regeneration  and  sanctifica- 
tion,  that  men  are  made— as  far  as  in  this  life  they  are  evei' 
made— inherently  holy.     In  justification,   they  are  legally 

2  z 


362  LECTURES  ON  THE 

discharged  from  the  guilt  of  all  their  sins.  Regeneration  and 
sanctification  are  graces  wrought  within  us — justification  is 
something  that  takes  place  without  us,  and  is  not  our  act  at 
all,  but  the  act  of  God.  These  things,  therefore,  are  never  to 
be  confounded. 

"  It  is  God  that  justifieth,^'  saith  the  apostle.  Witsius,  in 
the  place  before  cited,  has  excellently  shown,  that  it  is  God, 
essentially  considered  in  the  person  of  the  Father,  who  is  es- 
pecially the  justifier  of  his  people,  in  respect  of  judiciary 
power  and  authority.  But  he  also  shows  that  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  is  likewise  said  to  justify,  in  respect  to  the  dispensa- 
tion or  exercise  of  that  power.  And  that  the  Holy  Spirit  is 
said  to  justify,  as  making  application  of  the  blood  or  righteous- 
ness of  Christ,  on  account  of  which  we  are  justified. 

Justification,  in  the  answer  before  us,  is  called  "an  act  of 
God's  free  grace."  It  is  called  an  act,  because,  like  the  sen- 
tence or  decision  of  a  judge,  it  is  done  and  completed  at  once; 
and  not  carried  on  gradually  like  a  work  of  time.  It  is  called 
an  act  of  God's  free  grace,  because  this  grace  is  the  sole 
moving  cause  in  our  justification. — Thus  it  is  said  in  the  very 
words  of  inspiration — "Being  justified  freely  by  his  grace, 
through  the  redemption  that  is  in  Jesus  Christ.'^  If  it  be 
asked,  how  it  is  an  act  of  free  grace,  by  which  we  are  justi- 
fied, since  it  is  through  the  redemption  that  is  in  Christ?  the 
answer  is  this — The  redemption  that  is  in  Christ,  is  the  chan- 
nel through  which  justifying  grace  freely  flows  unto  us.  It 
was  infinite  grace  that  provided  a  Saviour;  pure  grace  that 
led  the  soul  to,  and  gave  it  an  interest  in,  the  Saviour;  and 
therefore,  an  act  of  free  grace  is  clearly  performed  when  the 
sinner  is  declared  to  be  justified  in  virtue  of  his  righteousness. 
To  the  Saviour  himself,  it  is  indeed  an  act  of  strict  justice, 
that  his  people  should  be  justified,  since  he  has  paid  the  full 
price  of  it.  But  to  his  people  who  receive  the  benefits  of  his 
redemption,  it  is  grace  from  the  foundation  to  the  top  stone. 
Justice  is  indeed  satisfied,  in  all  the  extent  of  its  demands; 
but  it  is  by  the  provision  of  God,  the  work  of  the  Saviour, 
and  the  application  of  his  Spirit.  From  these  sources  alone, 
all  the  benefits  received  in  justification  flow  forth  to  the  be- 


SHORTER    CATECHISM.  3G3 

liever,  and  he  therefore  is  plainly  the  recipient  of  the  purest 
grace. 

In  justification  there  are  two  parts  distinctly  noticed,  in 
the  answer  before  us— 1.  The  pardon  of  all  our  sins.  2.  The 
acceptance  of  us  as  righteous  in  the  sight  of  God.  The  first 
of  these  is  necessary  and  antecedent  to  the  second.  By  the 
pardon  of  sin  God  absolves  the  sinner  from  the  condemnation 
of  the  law,  on  account  of  Christ's  satisfaction  for  sin.  For 
till  the  sentence  of  the  broken  law  be  absolved  by  pardon,  it 
is  impossible  that  our  persons  can  be  accepted,  or  any  bless- 
ing of  the  covenant  be  conferred  upon  us. 

In  pardon,  it  is  the  guilt  of  sin  which  is  removed — that 
guilt  by  which  the  subject  of  it  is  exposed  to  eternal  wrath  as 
its  just  reward,  for  "  the  wages  of  sin  is  death."  Nor  can 
the  guilt  of  sin  ever  return  upon  a  pardoned  and  justified  be- 
liever. The  obligation  to  punishment  being  removed,  or 
once  taken  oflT,  can  never  again  recur,  according  to  the  eco- 
nomy of  grace ;  because  there  is  no  condemnation  to  them 
that  are  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  whom  he  loveth  he  loveth  unto 
the  end.  In  justification,  all  past  and  present  guilt  is  par- 
doned, and  the  assurance  is  given,  that  new  acts  of  pardon 
shall  be  granted  after  every  future  transgression.  But  be 
careful  to  understand  this  distinctly.  The  meaning  is,  that 
God  will  always  bring  the  justified  believer  to  deep  repent- 
ance and  humiliation  for  his  known  ofiences,  and  also  to  the 
dereliction  of  his  sin;  and  then  will  grant  him  a  fresh  act  of 
pardon.  To  my  apprehension  it  is  perfectly  preposterous  to 
speak  of  sins  being  pardoned  before  they  are  committed. 
But  it  is  a  glorious  gospel  truth,  that  when  God  has  once 
pardoned  a  sinner  through  Jesus  Christ,  he  brings  him  into  a 
state  in  which  he  will  never  fail  to  humble  him  and  bring 
him  to  true  repentance  for  every  future  sin,  and  then  grant 
him  pardon  for  it.  And  you  will  accordingly,  be  very  par- 
ticular in  noticing  and  remembering,  that  in  a  passage  already 
quoted,  the  apostle  explicitly  declares— "  Whom  he  justified, 
them  he  also  glorified''— The  apostle  does  here  unequivo- 
cally assert,  that  all  who  have  ever  been  in  a  justified  state, 


364  LECTURES  ON  THE 

will  be  glorified — This  leads  to  the  consideration  of  the  se- 
cond thing  in  justification,  which  is,  our  being  accepted  as 
righteous  in  the  sight  of  God. 

Among  men,  indeed,  a  criminal  may  be  pardoned,  and  yet 
it  may  not  be  the  fact  that  he  is  considered  as  righteous  in 
the  eye  of  the  law :  Nay,  it  is  scarcely  correct  to  say  that  he 
is  pardoned,  if  he  is  just  and  righteous  in  the  eye  of  the  law. 
He  may  be  discharged  from  punishment,  but  pardon  itself 
implies  guilt.  Here,  therefore,  the  parallel  fails  between  the 
divine  procedure  and  that  which  takes  place  among  men ;  for 
those  whom  God  pardons  or  forgives,  he  both  accounts  their 
persons  righteous  in  his  sight,  and  receives  them  into  per- 
petual favour.  This  is  done,  as  the  remainder  of  the  answer 
before  us  states — "Only  for  the  righteousness  of  Christ  im- 
puted to  us,  and  received  by  faith  alone.'^ 

The  righteousness  of  Christ  is  commonly  considered  as 
constituted  by  his  active  and  passive  obedience.  In  his  ac- 
tive obedience  is  usually  included,  the  holiness  of  his  nature 
and  the  righteousness  of  his  life,  in  full  and  perfect  conformi- 
ty to  the  whole  law,  without  the  least  defect  at  any  time  or 
in  any  degree.  Thus  the  entire  equity  and  reasonableness  of 
the  law  were  shown ;  and  the  reflection  and  dishonour  cast 
upon  it  by  the  disobedience  of  man  were  completely  removed, 
by  its  receiving  the  honour  of  the  perfect  and  ceaseless  obe- 
dience of  the  eternal  Son  of  God — He  magnified  the  law  and 
made  it  honourable. 

The  passive  obedience  of  Christ  includes  his  satisfaction  for 
sin,  by  bearing,  in  all  their  extent,  the  inflictions  of  the  curse 
of  the  broken  law  of  God  due  to  all  his  people  "  He  bare  our 
si-ns  in  his  own  body  on  the  tree — he  was  made  a  curse  for 
us" — His  infinite  dignity  and  worth,  connected  with  his  in- 
conceivable sufferings,  rendered  the  short  endurance  of  those 
sufferings  as  complete  a  satisfaction  to  the  penal  demands  of 
the  law,  as  could  have  been  made  by  the  endless  torments  of 
all  those  in  whose  room  and  stead  he  stood.  The  sufferings 
and  death  of  Christ  are  called  his  passive  obedience,  because 
they  were,  on  his  part,  entirely  voluntary,  and  undergone  in 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  365 

perfect  acquiescence  in  the  will  and  appointment  of  the  eter- 
nal Father. 

The  union  or  aggregate  of  this  active  and  passive  obe- 
dience of  Christ,  constitutes  that  complete  and  finished  righ- 
teousness, which  is  the  formal  meritorious  cause  of  the  justifi- 
cation of  every  saint.  It  is  on  this  account,  precisely,  and  no 
other,  that  believers  are  accepted  of  God  as  righteous  We 
are  told  expressly  that  "  the  righteousness  of  God  is  upon  all 
them  that  believe."  This  is  the  declaration  of  infallible  truth. 
But  this  righteousness  cannot,  in  the  language  of  scripture,  be 
upon  them  that  believe,  otherwise  than  by  being  imputed  or 
reckoned  to  them. 

Much  noise  has  been  made  about  the  words  imputed  righ- 
teousness j  as  well  as  the  phrase  the  satisfaction  of  Christ, 
But  it  may  be  truly  said  that  the  whole  is  noise,  and  nothing 
else.  The  substantial  ideas  conveyed  by  those  words  and 
phrases,  and  all  that  we  intend  or  mean  by  them,  are  fully 
and  clearly  conveyed  in  other  language,  into  which  they  are 
not  introduced  at  all ;  and  though  we  will  not  relinquish  the 
words  imputed  righteousness,  because  they  are  proper,  pre- 
cise, and  scriptural  words ;  yet,  if  the  ideas  for  which  they 
stand  are  admitted  by  those  who  reject  them,  we  desire  to 
have  no  controversy  on  the  subject.  I  know  of  no  expres- 
sion in  the  New  Testament,  in  which  the  doctrine  of  impu- 
tation, in  both  its  parts,  that  is,  the  imputation  of  our  sins  to 
Christ,  and  the  imputation  of  his  righteousness  to  us,  is  more 
distinctly  and  unequivocally  expressed,  than  in  a  text  where 
the  word  imputation  is  not  used.  It  is  this— *^  For  he  hath 
made  him  to  be  sin  for  us  who  knew  no  sin;  that  we  might 
be  made  the  righteousness  of  God  in  him.''  I  cannot  con- 
ceive what  rational  meaning  can  be  affixed  to  this  declaration 
but  this  alone — "  That  Christ  was  treated  as  a  sinner  on  our 
account,  that  we  might  be  treated  as  perfectly  righteous  on 
his  account ;"  and  this  is  precisely  what  we  mean  by  impic- 
tation.^     We  have  no  conception  that  our  personal  sins  be- 

*  It  has  been  said  by  those  who  object  to  the  doctrine  of  imputed  righteous- 
ness, that  "  what  is  actually  not  ours,  cannot  justly  bo  reckoned  or  accounted 


366  LECTURES    ON  THE 

came  Christ's  personal  sins — God  forbid ! — And  we  have  no 
idea  that  his  personal  righteousness  becomes  our  personal 
righteousness.  We  only  mean  and  say,  that  his  righteous- 
ness is  imputed  to  us — that  is,  reckoned,  or  computed  as 
ours,  or  set  to  our  account.  We  say,  that*  God  so  accounts 
or  reckons  to  us  the  righteousness  of  Christ,  as  to  treat  us 
as  if  we  had  obeyed  the  law  and  satisfied  justice  in  our  own 
persons. — Nay,  we  must  not  omit  to  mention,  that  the  people 
of  God,  in  consequence  of  being  invested  with  the  righteous- 
ness of  Christ,  will  be  entitled  to,  and  actually  receive,  a  hea- 
venly inheritance,  unspeakably  richer  and  more  glorious  than 
they  would  have  received,  if  their  first  covenant  head  had 
remained  sinless. 

We  are  said,  in  the  Catechism,  to  be  pardoned  and  accepted 
^' only^^  for  the  righteousness  of  Christ;  because  a  sinner  can 
make  no  other  valid  plea  before  God  for  pardon  and  accept- 
ance, than  that  Christ  his  surety  has  fulfilled  the  violated 
covenant  of  works  for  him — fulfilled  all  righteousness  in  his 
behalf.  The  law  required  a  fulfilment,  in  which  every  act  of 
obedience  should  be  a  perfectly  sinless  act.     Now,  not  one  of 

as  ours."  But  in  regard  to  this,  I  must  say  that  it  seems  to  me  scarcely  to  de- 
serve the  name  of  a  quibble — it  is  rather  an  unqualified  false  assertion.  Take 
the  common  illustration  of  this  topick — An  individual  is  imprisoned  for  a  debt 
which  he  can  never  pay.  A  benevolent  individual  pays  it  for  him.  Cannot 
this  payment  be  reckoned  or  accounted  as  being  made  by  the  prisoner  himself, 
and  he  be  discharged  and  treated  as  owing  nothing,  as  really  as  if  he  had  paid 
the  debt  out  of  his  own  property  and  purse  .''  and  may  not  the  benefactor  de- 
mand the  prisoner's  discharge,  as  a  matter  of  justice.''  He  certainly  may;  all 
righteous  laws  will  permit  it;  and  the  whole  transaction  sometimes  takes  place 
in  fact,  in  well  ordered  society.  Take  another  illustration — The  offspring  of  a 
beggar  is  adopted  by  a  man  of  wealth.  May  not  this  adopted  offspring  be 
reckoned,  or  accounted,  as  the  child  of  his  benefactor,  and  become  his  heir, 
and  even  bear  his  name,  as  really  as  if  the  adopted  party  had  come  out  of  the 
loins  of  his  putative  father  .^  who  knows  not  that  such  a  procedure  as  this  some- 
times actually  takes  place  among  men  .^ 

We  admit  after  all  that  there  is  something  unique,  or  without  a  parallel,  in 
the  justification  of  a  believing  sinner.  By  faith,  a  mysterious  union,  or  oneness, 
takes  place  between  him  and  his  Saviour.  Of  this  oneness,  the  Saviour  ex- 
pressly speaks  in  his  last  intercessory  prayer — Elsewhere  he  compares  it  to  the 
union  of  a  branch  with  the  vine  ;  and  it  is  frequently  referred  to  by  the  Apos- 
tle Paul.  It  is  in  virtue  of  this  union,  this  oneness,  this  identity  of  the  be- 
liever with  his  glorious  spiritual  head,  that  he  becomes  a  partaker  of  all  that 
has  been  merited  by  that  head  for  the  members  of  his  mystical  body — The 
righteousness  of  his  head,  becomes  the  believer's  righteousness,  and  he  is  en- 
titled to  all  its  benefits.  I  have  never  seen  this  point  more  clearly  proved, 
and  more  powerfully  illustrated,  than  in  the  celebrated  Hooker's  "  learned  dis- 
course of  Justification,"  &c. 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  367 

uur  acts  is  of  this  kind.  But  of  this  very  kind  were  all  the 
acts  of  Christ ;  and  therefore,  his  perfect  sinless  acts,  and  not 
our  imperfect  acts  mingled  with  sin,  must  have  the  whole 
concern  in  the  matter  of  our  justification. 

No  act  that  is  imperfect  can  ever  justify,  by  a  law  which 
requires  perfection.  The  imperfection  of  the  act,  so  far  as 
it  exists,  is  a  violation  of  the  law,  and  therefore  needs  par- 
don, instead  of  being  entitled  to  reward.  If  therefore  the 
righteousness  which  justifies  us  must  be  a  perfect  righteous- 
ness, none  of  our  acts  can  make  any  part  of  it,  for  they  are 
all  imperfect — This  is  clear  to  demonstration.  It  is  there- 
fore the  perfect  righteousness  of  Christ,  and  that  only^ 
which  is  the  efiicient  cause  of  our  justification,  in  the  eye 
of  the  perfect  law  of  God.  This  righteousness  is  "  received 
by  faith  alone."  Yet,  as  we  have  just  seen,  the  excellence 
of  the  act  of  faith,  by  which  it  is  received,  has  no  share  in 
the  righteousness  that  justifies.  That  act  of  faith,  although 
sincere,  is  yet  imperfect,  and  therefore  needs  pardon,  in 
place  of  claiming  to  be  a  part  of  the  righteousness  which  jus- 
tifies. The  same  may  also  be  said  of  repentance — it  is  indis- 
pensable to  salvation.  But  it  forms  no  part  of  the  righteous- 
ness that  justifies.  That,  as  we  have  seen,  must  be  a  perfect 
righteousness,  and  can  be  nothing  else.  But  our  repentance 
is  imperfect;  and  the  riches  of  God's  grace  in  the  gospel  is 
manifest  in  this  very  particular,  that  for  Christ's  sake  our 
acts  are  accepted,  if  sincere,  although  imperfect — accepted  to 
their  proper  end — not  as  having  any  share  in  our  justifica- 
tion, but  as  evidence  of  our  compliance  with  the  terms  of  the 
Gospel  covenant,  and  our  consequent  title  to  a  gracious  re- 
ward. 

Faith  and  repentance  have  by  some  been  called  conditions 
of  salvation;  and  controversy  has  sometimes  ensued  on  the 
propriety  of  their  being  thus  denominated.  But,  in  my  ap- 
prehension, this  is  a  needless  controversy.  The  fact  is  this 
— There  are  two  meanings  of  the  word  conditiori;  one  of 
which  is  cei-tainly  not  applicable  to  this  point,  and  the  other 
as  certainly  is.     By  condition  is  sometimes  meant  a  valua- 


368  LECTURES  ON  THE 

ble  consideration,  in  consequence  of  which  something  is  con- 
ferred. In  this  sense  faith  and  repentance  are  not  conditions 
of  salvation :  for  they  are  not  the  valuable  consideration,  in 
consequence  of  which  salvation  is  conferred  on  us.  This 
valuable  consideration  is,  as  we  have  shown,  nothing  but  the 
righteousness  of  Christ.  But  the  word  condition  is  sometimes 
Used  to  denote  something  which  must  take  place  before  a 
stipulated  benefit  can  be  obtained.  In  this  sense,  faith  and 
repentance  may  be  called  conditions  of  salvation.  They 
must  always  take  place  in  persons  of  adult  age,  before  sal- 
vation can  be  obtained,  or  justly  be  expected. 

You  will,  however,  be^  careful  to  observe,  that  it  is  the 
grace  of  faith  alone,  which  is  even  instrument  ally  concern- 
ed in  our  justification.  Justifying  faith  will,  indeed,  be  al- 
ways accompanied  by  every  other  genuine  grace  of  the  Chris- 
tian. But  faith  alone  is  concerned  in  justification,  because  it 
is  the  ofiice  only  of  this  grace  to  receive  and  rest  on  Christ, 
We  do  not  receive  and  rest  on  Christ  by  repentance,  by 
hope,  or  by  charity,  but  by  faith  alone;  and  therefore,  it  is 
by  faith  alone,  as  the  proper  instrument  for  the  work,  that 
we  are  justified. 

There  has  also  been  a  controversy,  whether  we  are  not  to 
consider  good  works  as  connected  with  faith,  in  the  matter  of 
our  justification.  But  there  is  no  proper  ground  for  this  con- 
troversy. All  do  or  ought  to  admit,  that  in  adult  age,  good 
works,  as  far  as  opportunity  for  them  is  given,  always  accom- 
pany saving  faith — They  prove  it  to  be  saving;  and  in  this  way 
justify  our  profession  of  faith  before  the  world;  which  is  pre- 
cisely what  St.  James  intends,  when  he  says  we  are  justified 
by  works,  and  not  by  faith  only.  We  are  justified  before 
men,  by  the  works  which  flow  from  faith,  and  which  men 
can  see.  But  in  our  justification  before  God,  the  Apostle 
Paul  teaches  that  no  work,  no  act  of  man,  has  any  merito- 
rious agency,  more  or  less.  We  owe  it  all  to  the  righteous- 
ness of  Christ.  Faith  receives  and  rests  on  this;  because,  as 
has  been  shown,  it  is  proper  to  faith,  and  to  no  other  grace, 
to  do  so.     But  this  very  act  of  faith,  although  sincere,  is 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  369 

still  imperfect,  and  its  imperfection  is  pardoned  through  that 
very  righteousness  of  Christ  on  which  it  rests,  and  to  which 
it  leaves  the  whole  undivided  honour  and  merit  of  our  jus- 
tification and  salvation. 

My  dear  youth,  in  concluding;  this  lecture,  in  which  I  have 
eneleavoured  shortly  to  explain  a  fundamental  doctrine  of  the 
revealed  will  of  God,  let  me  entreat  you — 

1.  Not  to  rndulge  in  speculations  on  this  article  of  our 
faith,  beyond  what  is  plainly  laid  down  in  the  sacred  oracles. 
The  most  serious  practical  evils  have  often  resulted  from  a 
licentious  indulgence  of  hum^an  reason  in  regard  to  this,  as 
well  as  to  some  other  doctrines,  which  are  clearly  revealed 
in  the  word  of  God.  We  doubt  not  that  every  doctrine,  and 
every  declaration,  which  we  find  in  the  Bible,  is  perfectly 
reasonable;  because  we  believe  that  the  whole  has  proceeded 
from  a  Being  whose  understanding  is  infinite,  and  whose 
equity  and  truth  are  immaculate  and  inviolable.  But  it  is 
one  thing  for  a  doctrine  to  he  reasonable,  and  another  for  us 
to  see  that  it  is  so,  and  to  be  able  to  explain  all  the  grounds 
or  principles  on  which  it  rests.  There  are,  as  I  have  repeat- 
edly remarked  to  you,  many  undeniable  truths,  or  facts,  in 
the  natural  world,  the  principles  or  reasons  of  which  we  can- 
not understand  and  explain,  and  perhaps  shall  never  discover 
in  the  present  life.  If  we  believe  revelation  to  be  the  work 
of  God,  we  ought  to  expect  that  it  will  contain  truths  and 
facts  of  the  same  character  with  those  of  his  other  works. 
Such  truths  and  facts  revelation  certainly  does  contain ;  and 
this  is  so  far  from  forming  a  just  objection  to  the  sacred 
writings,  that  it -is  a  strong  presumption  of  their  Divine  ori- 
ginal. I  know  that  I  have  repeatedly  said  this  in  substance 
heretofore,  but  it  is  important  to  remind  you  of  it,  on  the 
present  occasion. 

The  method  of  a  sinner's  justification  before  God,  is  a  mat- 
ter of  pure  revelation.  Reason  never  could  have  discovered 
it,  if  left  to  itself;  and  the  most  that  reason  has  to  do  with  it 
is,  to  examine  the  evidence  and  import  of  what  God  has  re- 
vealed concerning  it.     To  God  alone  it  belonged  to  deter- 

3  A 


370  LECTURES  ON  THE 

mine  on  what  terms  and  in  what  manner,  a  guilty  creature 
might  be  restored  to  his  favour:  and  when  he  has  told  us 
this,  we  ought   most  thankfully  and  humbly  to  receive  the 
information,   and  promptly  to   comply  with  the  terms  pre* 
scribed.     The  grounds  and  reasons  of  the  procedure  may  not, 
in  all  respects,  quadrate  with  what  an  imperfect  and  erring 
reason  may  seem  to  dictate;  nor  run    entirely  parallel  with 
transactions  which  take  place  between  one  creature  and  ano- 
ther.    This  I  am  persuaded  is  in  reality  the  case,  in  regard 
to  the  doctrine  of  justification,  as  we  find  it  taught  in  the 
New  Testament.     But  what  better  evidence  do  we  want  that 
a  doctrine  is  reasonable,  although  our  feeble  intellect  cannot 
fully  measure  it,  than  that  He  whose  understanding,  equity 
and  goodness  are  infinite,  has  sanctioned  it,  and  required  us 
to  receive  it?     What  more  should  a  sinner  ask,  than  that  his 
offended  Maker  should  tell  him  in  what  way  he  may  be  par- 
doned, and  be  rendered  eternally  happy  ?  For  the  guilty  party 
to  stand  questioning,  and  insist  on  knowing  to  the  bottom 
how,  lohy,  and  wherefore  the  Creator  has  adopted  this  plan, 
and  on  what  principles  of  reason  he  can  show  it  to  be  right, 
is,  in  my  apprehension,  a  gross  and  impious  presumption.     I 
seriously  warn  you  against  it.     I  feel  bound  solemnly  to  cau- 
tion you  against  all  those  speculations — and  I  am  sorry  to 
say  that  they  are  becoming  fashionable — which  really  go  to 
set  aside  the  scripture  doctrine  of  our  justification  solely  by 
the  imputation  to  us  of  the  perfect  risihteousnessof  a  Saviour; 
of  a  Saviour  taking  the  sinner's  place,  and  obeying  and  suf- 
fering in  his  behalf.     Cleave  to  this  scriptural  doctrine,  I  en- 
treat and  charge  you — cleave  to  it  as  the  sheet  anchor  of  that 
hope  toward  God,  which  alone  will  stand  the  test  in  the  try- 
ing hour  of  death,  and  when  the  dread  realities  of  eternity 
shall  sweep  away  the  sandy  foundation  of  all  those  refuges  of 
lies,  to  which  thousands  betake  themselves  to  their  eternal 
undoing. 

2.  Above  all,  let  me  exhort  you  not  to  content  yourselves 
with  a  mere  rational  assent  to  this  doctrine,  although  you 
should  hold  it  in  the  most  unexceptionable  form  in  which  the 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  371 

human  mind  can  receive  it.  Remember  that  it  is  a  dreadful 
thing,  to  "  hold  the  truth  in  unrighteousness."  It  is  not 
enough  that  you  believe  that  nothing  can  justify  you  but  the 
righteousness  of  Christ;  you  must  personally,  practically,  and 
individually,  so  believe  in  Christ,  that  you  may  be  clothed 
with  his  righteousness,  may  stand  before  God  in  this  heaven- 
ly robe,  and  be  able  to  plead  it  truly,  as  the  sole  meritorious 
cause  of  your  acceptance.  Without  this,  you  will  at  last  be 
undone  and  perish  forever.  If  there  is  one  doctrine  in  the 
book  of  God  more  practical  than  another,  it  is  this  one.  Each 
of  us  is  a  sinner  by  nature  and  by  practice;  and  till  we  have, 
under  a  due  sense  and  conviction  of  guilt  been  driven  away 
from  every  other  reliance,  to  rely,  in  the  exercise  of  a  living 
faith,  solely  and  unreservedly  on  the  finished  righteousness  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  wrath  and  curse  of  God  abide  upon 
us.  Till  then  the  whole  weight  and  burden  of  our  numerous 
and  aggravated  sins  rest  on  our  own  guilty  heads.  Hasten 
then,  as  for  the  life  of  your  souls,  to  embrace  ttiat  Saviour, 
whose  blood  can  fully  atone  for  your  transgressions,  can 
cleanse  away  all  the  guilt  of  your  crimson  and  scarlet  stains; 
and  by  union  with  whom,  all  the  benefits  of  his  purchase 
shall  become  your  own,  and  he  "  be  made  of  God  unto  you 
wisdom,  and  righteousness,  and  sanctification,  and  redemp° 
tion."     Amen. 


LECTURE  XXIX. 


What  is  Adoption 


The  second  benefit  of  effectual  calling,  or  rather  the  source 
oimany  benefits,  is  adoption.  "  Adoption,"  says  the  Cate- 
chism, "is  an  act  of  God's  free  grace,  whereby  we  are  re- 
ceived into  the  number,  and  have  a  right  to  all  the  privileges 
of  the  sons  of  God." 


372  LECTURES  ON  THE 

Here  we  are  first  to  consider  the  import  of  the  word  adop- 
tion. It  is  a  term  taken  from  a  human  transaction,  to  illus- 
trate a  divine  procedure  in  reference  to  redeemed  sinners. 

Among  men,  adoption  is  the  taking  of  a  stranger  into  a 
family,  and  considering  and  treating  him,  in  all  respects,  as  if 
he  were  by  birth  a  child  of  that  family;  or,  it  is  our  acting 
toward  the  child  of  another  as  if  he  were  our  own.  In  like 
manner,  in  the  adoption  of  God,  those  who  are  by  nature 
aliens,  are  received  into  his  family,  and  treated  as  his  chil- 
dren and  heirs — **  Heirs  of  God  and  joint  heirs  with  Christ.'' 
Here  however  we  remark  some  important  circumstantial  dif- 
ferences. Men  seldom  adopt  more  than  one  individual;  and 
the  act  generally  takes  place  on  account  of  some  amiable  pro- 
perties or  qualifications  of  which,  it  is  supposed,  indications  are 
perceptible  in  the  person  adopted.  But  God  adopts  many  into 
his  family,  and  not  one  of  them  on  account  of  any  thing  ex- 
cellent or  recommendatory  in  the  adopted  party,  but  solely 
from  his  own  unmerited  love  and  mercy  : — "  Having  (says 
the  apostle)  predestinated  us  unto  the  adoption  of  children, 
by  Jesus  Christ  to  himself,  according  to  the  good  pleasure  of 
his  will;  to  the  praise  of  the  glory  of  his  grace,  wherein  he 
hath  made  us  accepted  in  the  beloved." 

The  writers  on  this  subject  mention  two  kinds  of  adoption, 
general  and  special;  and  the  scripture  warrants  the  distinc- 
tion. General  adoption  relates  to  communities.  It  is  the 
forming  of  a  certain  number  of  mankind  into  a  visible  church, 
or  family  of  God,  and  conferring  upon  them  peculiar  privileges. 
This  was,  in  ancient  times,  most  remarkably  exemplified  in 
the  descendants  of  faithful  Abraham,  who  formed  the  Israel- 
itish  nation.  Hence,  says  the  Apostle  Paul,  speaking  of  his 
kinsmen  according  to  the  flesh — "  Who  are  Israelites;  to 
whom  pertaineth  the  adoption,  and  the  glory,  and  the  cove- 
nants, and  the  giving  of  the  law,  and  the  service  of  God,  and 
the  promises:  Whose  are  the  fathers,  and  of  whom,  as  con- 
cerning the  flesh,  Christ  came,  who  is  over  all,  God  blessed 
for  ever — ^^Amen."     The  same  apostle  elsewhere  teaches  us. 


Shorter  catechism.  373 

that  under  the  gospel  dispensation  all  true  believers  are  to  be 
regarded  as  the  spiritual  seed  of  Abraham. 

But  it  is  to  what  is  called  special  adoption,  that  the  answer 
of  the  Catechism  before  us  particularly  refers;  and  to  this  we 
shall  direct  all  our  additional  remarks.  Fisher,  in  his  Cate- 
chism, well  defines  special  adoption  thus — "  It  is  a  sovereign 
and  free  translation  of  a  sinner  of  mankind,  from  the  family 
of  hell  or  Satan,  into  the  family  or  household  of  God,  with  an 
investiture  into  all  the  privileges  of  the  sons  of  God."  He 
says  that  this  is  done  "  by  the  act  and  authority  of  God,  the 
Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost:  That  the  act  of  the  Father  in 
this  matter  is — that  he  hath  predestinated  us  unto  the  adop- 
tion of  children  to  himself,  according  to  the  good  pleasure 
of  his  will:  That  the  act  of  the  Son,  in  this  special  adoption 
is — that,  in  consequence  of  his  purchasing  the  sinner  by  the 
price  of  his  blood,  he  actually  gives  the  power,  right  or  privi- 
lege, to  become  a  child  of  God,  in  the  day  of  believing:  That 
the  act  of  the  Holy  Ghost  is — that  he  comes  in  Christ's  name, 
takes  possession  of  the  person,  and  dwells  in  him,  as  a  spirit 
of  adoption,  teaching  him  to  cry  Abba  Father." 

You  will  observe  that  adoption  is  called  an  act,  because  it 
is  perfected  at  once.  As  soon  as  a  believer  is  vitally  united 
by  faith  to  Christ,  the  head  of  God's  family,  and  the  elder 
brother  of  every  saint,  he  is,  from  that  moment,  an  adopted 
child  of  God.  It  is  called  an  act  of  God's  free  grace,  because 
the  adoption  of  any  individual  or  portion  of  mankind  into  the 
household  of  God,  must  flow  entirely  from  undeserved  love 
and  favour  in  Him;  since,  in  their  previous  state,  those  who 
are  adopted  are,  without  exception,  wretched,  and  miserable, 
and  poor,  and  blind,  and  naked ;— every  way  unworthy  of 
being  so  nearly  and  tenderly  related  to  Him. 

The  answer  before  us,  as  you  will  remark,  states,  that  be- 
lievers are  "  received  into  the  number  of  the  sons  of  God.'' 
This  number  of  the  sons  of  God,  is  constituted  by  all  the  in- 
dividuals who  compose  the  whole  body  of  the  elect,  both  an- 
gels and  men  :  For  holy  angels  are  also  denominated  the  sons 
of  God  ;  as  in  Job,  where  it  is  said—"  the  morning  stars  sang 


374  LECTURES  ON  THE 

too^ether,  and  all  the  sons  of  God  shouted  for  joy.^^  Holy  an- 
gels, however,  are  the  sons  of  God,  so  to  speak,  by  birth, 
and  not  by  adoption.  They  have  retained  that  sinless  and 
happy  state  in  which  they  were  at  first  created:  And  it  may 
be  proper  to  observe,  that  this  also  was  the  state  of  Adam  be- 
fore his  fall.  Possibly  you  may  never  have  remarked  the 
force  and  beauty  of  St.  Luke's  concluding  declaration,  in 
tracing  the  genealogy  of  our  Saviour.  Having  carried  it  up, 
and  told  of  whom  every  individual  mentioned  was  the  son,  till 
he  comes  to  Adam,  he  says  of  him,  that  he  was  the  son  of 
God.  The  meaning  is,  not  only  that  God  created  him,  but 
that,  creating  him  in  his  own  image,  in  his  moral  likeness, 
Adam  was  properly,  and  in  every  view  a  son  of  God — a 
child  resembling  his  parent. 

By  his  fall  man  lost  the  moral  likeness  of  his  Creator,  cast 
himself  out  of  God's  family,  became  a  child  of  the  devil,  and 
an  heir  of  hell.  To  the  second  Adam  we  are  entirely  indebted 
for  repairing  the  losses  of  the  first.  Christ  Jesus  has  redeemed 
his  people  from  sin  and  perdition;  and  when  they  become 
united  to  him,  they  are  again  received  into  the  number  of  the 
sons  of  God,  by  adoption.  It  is  in  regeneration  that  the  moral 
image  of  God,  which  was  entirely  lost  or  effaced  by  the  fall, 
is  partially  restored,  and  its  complete  restoration  ensured. 
Hence  the  sons  of  God  are  qualified  to  belong  to  his  family, 
at  the  same  time  that  they  are  adopted  into  it.  They  are 
"  born  of  God"  by  regeneration,  when  they  are  received  into 
the  number  of  his  sons  by  union  with  Christ — Mark  how 
these  two  blessings  are  connected  together  by  the  inspired 
^vriter — "  To  as  many  as  received  him  (i.  e.  Christ)  to  them 
gave  he  power  to  become  the  sons  of  God,  even  to  them  that 
believe  on  his  name;  which  were  born,  not  of  blood,  nor  of 
the  will  of  the  flesh,  nor  of  the  will  of  man,  but  of  God."  It 
is,  you  perceive,  by  the  instrumentality  of  faith,  receiving 
Christ,  that  man  comes  by  adoption  into  God's  family. — "  Ye 
are  all  the  children  of  God  by  faith  in  Christ  Jesus" — says 
the  apostle  expressly.  Faith  unites  us  to  Christ,  and  recog- 
nises in  the  redemption  purchased  by  him,  the  whole  merito- 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  376 

rious  cause  of  adoption  :  Hence  it  is  said—"  God  sent  forth 
his  Son — to  redeem  them  that  were  under  the  law,  that  we 
might  receive  the  adoption  of  sons.''  The  adoption  of  be- 
lievers is  made  known  to  themselves,  by  their  receiving  the 
Spirit  of  adoption.  "  For  (says  the  apostle)  ye  have  not  re- 
ceived the  spirit  of  bondage  again  to  fear;  but  ye  have  re- 
ceived the  Spirit  of  adoption,  whereby  we  cry  Abba  Father: 
The  Spirit  itself  beareth  witness  vvith  our  Spirit,  that  we  are 
the  children  of  God  :  And  if  children  then  heirs;  heirs  of 
God  and  joint  heirs  with  Christ." 

The  Spirit  of  adoption  is,  in  itself,  one  of  the  many  precious 
and  my^XuMQ privileges  of  the  sons  of  God,  which  are  men- 
tioned in  the  answer  before  us.  Another  of  these  privileges 
is,  the  high  dignity  and  honour,  to  which  they  are  advanced. 
They  are  constituted  "  kings  and  priests  unto  God  and  the 
Father."  They  are  denominated  "a  royal  priesthood;"  and 
they  are  even  permitted  to  feast  on  "  Christ,  their  passover, 
sacrificed  for  them."  Another  privilege  is,  the  glorious  li- 
berty of  the  children  of  God;  by  which  they  are  freed  from 
the  guilt  and  dominion  of  sin,  the  curse  of  the  law,  the  tyran- 
ny of  Satan,  and  the  sting  of  death;  and  know  the  pleasures 
of  a  filial  and  reverential  obedience  to  their  Father's  will; 
flowing  from  a  principle  of  faith  and  love  wrought  in  the  soul. 
They  have  also  freedom  of  access  to  God;  so  that  they  may 
come  to  him  with  a  holy  boldness,  and  spread  all  their  wants 
before  him,  with  the  assurance  of  a  gracious  audience  and  ac- 
ceptance. Another  of  the  privileges  of  adoption  which  the 
sons  of  God  enjoy  is,  chastisement  for  their  good.  However 
the  ungodly  world  may  sneer  at  the  idea  that  chastisement,  or 
correction,  should  be  represented  as  a  privilege,  there  is  per- 
haps no  child  of  God  who  will  not  be  ready  to  declare  that  he 
has  found  it  such  in  his  own  experience:— declare  that  he  num- 
bers the  seasonable  and  sanctified  chastisements  of  his  heaven- 
ly Father,  among  the  greatest  privileges  and  blessings  that  he 
has  ever  known.  Certain  it  is,  that  there  is  no  truth  more 
clearly  and  fully  taught  than  this,  in  the  sacred  oracles.  Thus 
the  holy  psalmist—"  Before  I  was  afflicted  I  went  astray,  but 


376  LECTURES  ON  THE 

now  have  I  kept  thy  word — It  is  good  for  me  that  I  have 
been  afflicted,  that  I  might  learn  thy  statutes" — and  thus,  ex- 
tensively, the  apostle  to  the  Hebrews — "My  son  despise  not 
thou  the  chastening  of  the  Lord,  nor  faint  when  thou  art  re- 
buked of  him  :  For  whom  the  Lord  loveth  he  chasteneth, 
and  scourgeth  every  son  whom  he  receiveth.  If  ye  endure 
chastening,  God  dealeth  with  you  as  with  sons :  for  what  son 
is  he  whom  the  Father  chasteneth  not?  But  if  ye  be  with- 
out chastisement,  whereof  all  are  partakers,  then  are  ye  bas- 
tards and  not  sons.  Furthermore,  we  have  had  fathers  of 
our  flesh,  which  corrected  us,  and  we  gave  them  reverence: 
shall  we  not  much  rather  be  in  subjection  unto  the  Father  of 
spirits,  and  live?  For  they  verily  for  a  few  days  chastened  us 
after  their  own  pleasure;  but  he  for  our  profit,  that  we  might 
be  partakers  of  his  holiness.  Now,  no  chastening  for  the  pre- 
sent seemeth  to  be  joyous,  but  grievous:  nevertheless  after- 
ward it  yieldeth  the  peaceable  fruit  of  righteousness  unto  them 
which  are  exercised  thereby."  Another  chief  privilege  of 
the  sons  of  God  by  adoption  is,  the  inheritance,  to  which 
they  are  entitled.  They  are  heirs  of  the  righteousness  which 
is  by  faith;  heirs  of  the  grace  of  life;  heirs  of  all  the  promises 
of  God;  heirs  of  salvation;  and  to  say  all  in  a  word,  joint 
heirs  with  Christ  of  all  that  he  has  purchased  for  his  people — 
of"  an  inheritance  incorruptible  and  undefiled,  and  that  fadeth 
not  away,  reserved  in  heaven  for  them." 

In  closing  what  I  have  to  offer  on  the  subject  of  adoption, 
let  me  inculcate — 

1.  The  importance,  to  every  one  who  hopes  that  he  is  a 
child  of  God,  of  examining  the  evidences  of  his  adoption.  To 
assist  in  this  examination,  I  will  just  specify  some  of  the 
chief  of  these  evidences — they  are  these — The  children  of 
God  resemble  their  Father;  they  bear  his  image.  They  love 
what  he  loves,  and  hate  what  he  hates.  They  know  their  Fa- 
ther's voice — "  my  sheep  know  my  voice."  They  are  great- 
ly concerned  for  the  honour  of  God — His  cause  is  their  cause. 
They  delight  in  communion  with  God — "Our  fellowship  is 
with  the  Father."     They  mourn  the  absence,  and  love  the 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  377 

sensible  presence  of  God— "Whom  have  I  in  heaven  but  thee, 
and  there  is  none  on  earth  that  I  desire  beside  thee."  They 
conscientiously  endeavour  to  obey  all  the  commands  of  God. 
They  love  all  that  bear  their  Father's  likeness—"  every  one 
that  loveth  him  that  begat,  loveth  him  also  that  is  begotten  of 
him— We  know  that  we  have  passed  from  death  unto  life  be- 
cause we  love  the  brethren." 

2.  From  what  has  been  said  on  the  adoption  of  believers, 
and  the  relation  which  subsists  between  them  and  their  Father 
in  heaven,  we  maybe  impressively  taught,  how  false  is  the  es- 
timate which  the  world  in  general  makes  of  the  characters  of 
men.  Royal  birth,  noble  blood,  heroic  actions,  and  splendid 
achievements  of  whatever  kind,  elevate  men,  in  the  eye  of  the 
world,  to  a  proud  eminence  above  the  rest  of  their  kind.  Yet 
many  who  boast  of  these  distinctions,  are  visibly  and  pre-emi- 
nently the  enemies  of  God.  To  be  a  child  of  God  is  infinitely 
a  greater  honour — it  raises  the  man  who  possesses  this  cha- 
racter to  an  elevation  incomparably  higher,  than  any  which 
the  world  can  confer.  So,  undoubtedly,  it  appears  to  holy 
angels;  so  it  will  appear  to  the  universe  in  the  day  of  judg- 
ment; and  so  it  will  now  appear,  to  every  Christian  in  the 
lively  exercise  of  faith.  The  adopted  child  of  God  may  pity 
and  pray  for  splendid  sinners,  but  he  must  act  very  much  be- 
side his  privilege  and  below  his  dignity,  if  he  ever  envies 
them.  In  speaking  on  this  subject,  the  pious  Mr.  Shaw,  in 
his  treatise,  entitled  "Immanuel" — a  little  book  which  I  earn- 
estly recommend  to  your  careful  perusal — has  these  striking 
thoughts — "What  (says  he)  what  an  unreasonable  and  sense- 
less reproach  is  that  which  this  wicked  world  doth  cast  upon 
religious  and  godly  men?  calling  them  low  spirited  and  puny 
people.  Can  a  man  be  better  spirited  than  with  the  Spirit  of 
God?  Can  any  thing  more  truly  ennoble  a  soul  than  a  divine 
nature?  Can  a  man  be  raised  any  higher  than  unto  heaven  it- 
self?" 

3.  How  careful  should  the  children  of  God  be,  to  walk 
worthy  of  their  vocation.  Do  men  who  possess  a  high  and 
delicate  sense  of  worldly  honour,  or  of  that  which  they  think 

3  B 


378  LECTURES  ON  THE 

becomes  their  worldly  connexions,  station  and  character — do 
such  men  turn  away  with  disdain,  from  what  they  think 
would  degrade  them?  from  every  action  and  every  association 
which  they  deem  unworthy  of  their  rank,  or  their  avowed 
principles?  How  much  more  careful  ought  the  child  of  God 
to  be,  in  sustaining  the  purity  and  dignity  of  his  character? 
a  character  which,  in  a  right  estimation,  is,  as  we  have  seen, 
far  superior  to  the  most  elevated  on  earth.  How  careful 
should  this  child  of  the  Highest  be,  to  remember  that  he  is  to 
be  constantly  "  clothed  with  humility,'^  as  his  brightest  orna- 
ment; to  remember  that  he  is  not  his  own,  but  is  bought  with 
a  price,  even  with  the  precious  blood  of  his  redeeming  God 
— of  Christ,  his  elder  brother ;  that  his  bosom  is  a  temple  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  which  must  not  be  polluted  by  the  indul- 
gence of  the  lusts  of  the  flesh,  or  of  any  base,  defiling,  or  un- 
hallowed affections  or  desires;  to  remember  that,  whenever 
assailed  by  temptation,  he  must  say  with  Joseph,  "  how  can 
1  do  this  great  wickedness  and  sin  against  God;" — to  remem- 
ber, in  fine,  that  he  is  one  with  Christ;  that  angels  are  his  fel- 
low servants  now,  and  are  to  be  his  companions  in  heaven ; 
that  heaven  is  his  home,  and  therefore  that  he  should  constant- 
ly live  above  the  world,  and  be  little  affected  by  its  flatteries 
or  its  frowns.  So  living,  he  who  has  received  the  privilege 
of  adoption  will  **  walk  worthy  of  God,  who  hath  called  him 
unto  his  kingdom  and  glory."     Amen. 


LECTURE    XXX. 

What  is  Sanctification? 

We  are  now  to  .consider  the  important  subject  of  sancti- 
ncATioN.  *' Sanctification,"  says  the  catechism,  "is  the 
work  of  God's  free  grace;  whereby  we  are  renewed  in  the 
whole  man,  after  the  image  of  God,  and  are  enabled  more  and 
more  to  die  unto  sin,  and  to  live  unto  righteousness." 


SHORTER    CATECHISM.  379 

You  are  aware  that  the  word  sanctification,  denotes  our 
being  rendered  holy,  or  free  from  sin.  It  is  called  a  work, 
because  it  is  not,  like  an  act,  completed  at  once;  but  is  conti- 
nued, progressively,  through  the  whole  of  life.  It  is  called  a 
work  of  God^s  free  grace,  because  God  is  the  agent  by  whom 
it  is  performed,  and  his  free  grace  is  displayed  in  effecting  it 
—inasmuch  as  there  is  not  an  individual  who  is  the  subject  of 
it,  but  might  have  been  justly  left  to  perish  in  his  sin  and  pol- 
lution. 

It  is  the  special  and  official  work  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  to 
sanctify  the  human  soul — We  are  chosen  to  salvation, 
"  through  sanctification  of  the  Spirit,  and  belief  of  the 
truth."  Truth,  God's  revealed  truth,  is  the  instrument  made 
use  of,  and  the  means  employed  are  numerous  and  various; 
but  the  great  agent  who  uses  them  all  is  the  Holy  Spirit,  with- 
out whom  they  never  would,  or  could,  produce  the  intended 
effect ;  and  therefore  sanctification  is  strictly  and  properly  his 
work. 

At  the  time  of  the  Protestant  reformation,  and  for  some 
time  afterwards,  the  reformers  took  great  and  laudable  pains, 
to  show  clearly  the  difference  between  justification  and  sanc- 
tification, which  had  been  wretchedly  confounded  in  the  dark 
ages  which  preceded.  But  these  two  things  are,  to  this  day, 
extremely  apt  to  be  taken  the  one  for  the  other,  at  least  in 
part;  and  there  is  scarcely  any  thing  that  has  a  more  perni- 
cious influence  in  preventing  a  clear  and  consistent  view  of 
the  gospel  plan  of  salvation.  Indeed  the  immQdiidite practical 
influence  of  confounding  justification  and  sanctification,  is  often 
not  a  little  injurious.  Fisher  in  his  catechism,  has,  I  think, 
well  and  clearly  illustrated  the  difference  between  these  two 
graces.  I  will  state  what  he  says,  with  a  few  changes  of 
terms,  and  some  abbreviations  and  additions;  and  I  beg  your 
particular  attention  to  the  statement. 

The  matter  of  justification  is  the  righteousness  of  Christ; 
but  the  matter  of  sanctification  is  grace  imparted  from  the 
fulness  of  Christ—"  Of  his  fulness  have  all  we  received,  and 
grace  for  grace."     Justification  changes  a  man's  state  in  rela- 


380  LECTURES  ON  THE 

tion  to  God;  sanctification  changes  his  own  personal  state- 
changes  his  heart  and  his  life.  Justification  is  effected  by  the 
imputation  of  Christ's  righteousness  to  us;  sanctification  by 
the  implantation  of  his  grace  in  us.  Justification  is  complete 
and  perfect  at  first;  but  sanctification  is  carried  on  gradually, 
from  less  to  more,  till  the  soul  be  ripe  for  glory.  The  right- 
eousness of  justification  is  strictly  and  properly  meritorious, 
being  the  righteousness  of  God,  whereby  the  law  is  not  only 
fulfilled  but  magnified;  but  the  righteousness  of  sanctification 
is  not  meritorious,  being  only  the  righteousness  of  a  sinful 
creature,  imperfect  in  degree.  Justification  is  equal  in  all  be- 
lievers; but  all  believers  are  very  far  from  being  equally  sanc- 
tified. Sanctification  is  implanted  in  the  believer  as  a  new  na- 
ture; whereas  his  justifying  righteousness  is  not  iji  him  as  a 
nature,  but  on  him  as  a  robe,  and  hence  it  is  said  to  be  *'  upon 
all  them  that  believe."  Justification  has  relation  to  the  law 
as  a  covenant,  and  frees  the  soul  from  it;  sanctification  re- 
spects the  law  as  a  rule,  and  makes  the  soul  breathe  after  con- 
formity to  ii,  and  to  delight  in  it  after  the  inward  man — 
Hence  justification  is  a  judicial  sentence,  absolving  us  from 
the  condemnation  of  the  law;  but  sanctification  is  a  spiritual 
change,  fitting  and  disposing  us  to  obey  the  law.  Justifica- 
tion springs  from,  and  is  grounded  on,  the  priestly  office  of 
Christ,  whereby  he  satisfied  law  and  justice  as  our  surety;  but 
sanctification  proceeds  from  the  kingly  office  of  Christ,  where- 
by he  subdues  us  to  a  sweet  obedience  to  himself,  and  writes 
his  law  in  our  hearts.  Justification  gives  a  title  to  heaven  and 
eternal  life;  sanctification  gives  a  meetness  for  it.  Justifica- 
tion is  God's  act,  pronouncing  our  persons  righteous  in  Christ, 
and  taking  away  the  guilt  of  sin  ;  sanctification  is  the  Spirit's 
work,  cleansing  our  nature  and  taking  away  the  filth  of  sin: 
by  the  former  we  are  instated  into  the  favour  of  God,  and  by 
the  latter  we  are  adorned  with  his  image,  and  made  to  bear  a 
measure  of  his  likeness. 

So  much  for  the  difference  between  justification  and  sancti- 
fication. 

You  will  recollect  that,  in  speaking  on  the  subject  of  effec- 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  SSI 

tual  calling,  I  described  the  great  work  of  regeneration  which 
is  wrought  in  the  human  soul,  by  the  Holy  Spirit-— Perhaps 
you  can  hardly  have  a  better  general  idea  of  sanctification,than 
by  saying,  that  it  is  that  work  carried  on  to  perfection,  by  the 
same  almighty  agent.  Among  the  many  false  notions  in  re- 
gard to  religion  which  obtain  among  those  who  pay  a  degree 
of  attention  to  it,  you  will  sometimes  find  this — not  perhaps 
openly  avowed,  or  systematically  defended,  but  yet  practical- 
ly influential — that  regeneration  completes  the  work  of  religion 
in  the  soul — No  my  young  friends,  it  only  begins  the  work. 
Regeneration  is  indeed  essential.  It  is  connected  with  justi- 
fication and  Christian  perseverance — It  may  well,  therefore, 
be  matter  of  joy,  and  be  highly  esteemed.  Yet  in  itself,  it  is 
only  the  commencement  of  true  piety.  As  regeneration 
means  a  new  birth,  it  is  not  proper  to  say  that  it  must  be  re- 
peated or  increased.  But  it  is  proper  to  say,  that  every  saint 
who  continues  in  life,  must  be  renewed  more  than  he  is  in  re- 
generation. He  is  then  only  born  into  the  kingdom  of  grace 
— and  as,  in  a  natural  sense,  an  infant  must  not  only  be  born, 
but  also  grow  and  increase  till  he  becomes  a  man ;  so,  in  a 
spiritual  sense,  he  that  is  born  again,  must  grow  and  increase 
much,  before  he  reaches  the  measure  of  the  stature  of  a  per- 
fect man  in  Jesus  Christ — This  growth  is  sanctijication. 
It  is  an  increasing  renovation — a  growing  conversion  and 
conformity  of  the  soul  to  God.  "  We  are  renewed  (says  the 
catechism)  after  the  image  of  God.'^  As  sanctification  in- 
creases, that  moral  image  of  our  Maker  which  was  lost  or  ob- 
literated by  the  fall,  is  retraced,  and  progressively  restored 
to  the  sanctified  soul.  As  it  becomes  more  holy,  it  of  course 
becomes  more  like  God,  till,  in  the  article  of  death,  the  saint 
becomes  perfectly  sanctified,  or  in  his  measure  "holy  as  God 
is  holy.'^ 

The  answer  before  us  states,  that  the  saint  is  renewed  in 
the  whole  man.  Our  bodies,  strictly  speaking,  are  not  capa- 
ble of  holiness.  Yet  they  may  be  the  instruments  either  of 
a  holy  or  a  sinful  mind;  and  as  the  mind  is  sanctified,  all  the 
members  of  the  body  become  the  instruments  of  holy  mental 


LECTURES  ON  THE 

acts — They  are,  like  the  vessels  of  the  ancient  sanctuary,  ap- 
propriated to  holy  purposes,  and  therefore  considered  as  holy 
in  themselves.  Hence  the  apostolick  injunction,  "yield  your 
members  servants  to  righteousness  unto  holiness,^^ — and  else- 
where he  says — "  I  pray  God  your  whole  spirit,  and  soul, 
and  body,  be  preserved  blameless  unto  the  coming  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ."  Thus  are  saints  renewed  in  the  whole 
man — every  faculty  is  sanctified,  and  yet,  in  each,  this  sanc- 
tification  is  imperfect  till  death. 

Agreeably  to  the  statement  in  the  answer  before  us,  the 
work  of  sanctification  is  carried  on  in  two  ways^-By  our 
dying  unto  sin;  and  by  our  living  unto  righteousness : 
And  you  will  observe  that  in  reference  to  both  of  these,  we 
must  be  constantly  eraa^/ec?  by  divine  aid.  We  can  never 
form  such  habits  of  holiness,  or  make  such  attainments  in  it, 
as  to  be  independent  of  constant  assistance  from  the  Spirit  of 
grace.  After  the  greatest  progress  in  sanctification,  the  saint 
is  not  sufficient  of  himself  for  any  good  thought  or  act.  He 
incessantly  depends  on  grace,  to  be  imparted  for  the  discharge 
of  every  dutyj — depends  on  it  as  the  streams  depend  on  the 
fountain. 

To  die  unto  sin,  is  to  have  the  power  of  sin  in  our  nature 
so  far  mortified,  as  not  to  delight  in  it,  but  to  hate  it  in  heart, 
and  abstain  from  it  in  life.  To  live  unto  righteousness,  is 
to  have  our  souls  so  quickened  by  the  vivifying  power  of 
grace,  as  to  love  and  obey  the  commands  of  God,  truly, 
heartily,  prevalently,  and  perseveringly.  And  both  of  these, 
in  every  sanctified  soul,  will  take  place  more  and  more. 
The  sanctified  person  will  be  still  making  gradual  advances 
in  the  divine  life.  Some  advance  much  more  rapidly  than 
others;  but  none  who  are  sanctified  fail  to  "grow  in  grace." 
There  may,  indeed,  be  seasons  when  they  do  not  grow,  but 
decline;  when  they  do  not  make  progress,  but  backslide,  or 
stumble  and  fall.  But  the  Spirit  of  grace  will  never  forsake 
his  own  work.  The  declensions,  falls  and  backslidings,  of 
those  who  are  truly  sanctified,  are  overruled  to  render  them 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  383 

more  careful,  more  steadfast,  and  more  rapid  in  their  pro- 
gress, afterwards. 

On  the  whole,  then,  the  indispensable  necessity  of  sanctifi- 
cation  may  be  stated  thus — It  is  necessary,  not  in  the  matter  of 
our  justification  before  God,  but  for  evidencing  our  justification 
both  to  ourselves  and  others.  It  is  necessary  for  glorifying  our 
Heavenly  Father,  and  showing  forth  his  praise;  for  adorning 
the  doctrine  of  God  our  Saviour;  for  proving  our  union  with 
Christ;  far  promoting  inward  peace  and  joy;  for  maintaining 
fellowship  and  communion  with  God;  for  stopping  the  mouths 
of  gainsayers;  for  making  us  useful  to  men  on  earth;  and  for 
qualifying  us  for  heaven;  because  "without  holiness  no  man 
shall  see  the  Lord.^^ 

The  marks  of  sanctification  are — a  cordial  respect  to  all 
God's  commandments — loving  them  because  they  are  holy; 
a  hatred  of  all  sin,  and  avoiding  the  appearance  of  evil;  a 
spirit  of  watchfulness  and  warfare  against  sin ;  a  delight  in 
doing  good;  communion  with  God;  a  conversation  becoming 
the  gospel;  an  habitual  use  of  the  precious  promises  of  God, 
particularly  with  a  view  to  increasing  holiness;  and  a  con- 
stant improvement  of  the  blood  of  Christ,  by  faith  and 
prayer,  for  cleansing  from  the  filth,  as  well  as  the  guilt  of 
sin. 

The  chief  motives  and  inducements  to  sanctification  are, 
the  will  of  God  commanding  it;  the  love  of  Christ  constrain- 
ing to  it;  the  inherent  excellence  of  the  thing  itself;  an  ab- 
horrence of  sin,  which  is  its  opposite;  and  the  dignity  of 
resembling  God,  to  whose  image  it  conforms  its  possessor. 

To  promote  sanctification,  we  should  cleave  to  Christ  by 
faith,  for  we  are  "sanctified  in  Christ  Jesus;"  we  should 
pray  earnestly  for  the  Spirit  of  sanctification,  for  by  his  aid 
and  influence  alone  the  deeds  of  the  body  can  be  mortified ; 
we  should  associate  with  the  saints,  for  association  begets  as- 
similation;  and  we  should  make  a  right  and  diligent  use  of 
all  God's  ordinances— the  dispensation  of  his  word,  his  sab- 
baths and  sacraments,  and  the  mercies  and  chastisements  of 
his  holy  hand.     Amen. 


384  LECTURES  ON  THE 


LECTURE  XXXI. 

What  arc  the  benefits  ivhich  in  this  life  do  accoinpaiiy  orfloiofrom 
Justification^  Adoption  and  Sanctijication? 

My  young  friends, — You  have  heard  an  explanation  of  the 
great  and  interesting  doctrines  of  justification,  adoption  and 
sanctification.  In  the  answer  of  the  Catechism  that  follows, 
the  effects  of  these  graces  on  the  practical  Christian,  are  thus 
traced  out — "  The  benefits  which,  in  this  life,  do  accompany 
or  flow  from  justification,  adoption,  and  sanctification,  are,  as- 
surance of  God's  love,  peace  of  conscience,  joy  in  the  Holy 
Ghost,  increase  of  grace,  and  perseverance  therein  to  the 
end."  Here  are  Jive  benefits,  springing  from  the  sources  spe- 
cified. A  whole  lecture  might  be  spent  on  each,  but  we  must 
endeavour  to  bring  the  whole  within  the  limits  of  the  one  on 
which  we  have  entered. 

"  Assurance  of  God's  love,"  is  the  first  benefit  which  the 
answer  states,  as  flowing,  in  this  life,  from  justification,  adop- 
tion and  sanctification.  By  assurance  of  God's  love  here,  we 
are  to  understand  an  undoubting  persuasion  in  the  minds  of 
believers,  grounded  on  evidence  furnished  by  God,  that  they 
are  the  objects  of  his  special  love.  That  many  of  the  scrip- 
ture saints  did  attain  to  this  assurance,  we  have  unequivocal 
evidence.  Holy  Job  speaks  on  this  subject  without  doubt — 
"  I  know  that  mi/  Redeemer  liveth."  Asaph  in  like  manner 
— "  God  is  the  strength  of  my  heart,  and  my  portion  for- 
everP  The  Apostle  Paul  to  the  like  effect — "  I  am  now 
ready  to  be  offered,  and  the  time  of  my  departure  is  at  hand 
— I  know  in  whom  I  have  believed,"  &c.  And  that  this  at- 
tainment was  not  peculiar  to  inspired  men,  but  ought  to  be 
humbly  desired  and  sought  after  by  Christians  in  general,  we 
learn  from  its  being  spoken  of  in  scripture  as  something  to 
which  all  believers  may  aspire;  although  it  is  not  represent- 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  3S5 

ed  that  all  actually  acquire  it,  or  that  our  salvation  depends 
on  its  acquisition.  Yet  it  certainly  is  represented  as  an  object 
which  all  should  aim  at,  and  which  some  do  in  fact  obtain. 
The  Apostle  Paul,  in  his  epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  calls  it  once, 
"the  full  assurance  of  hope;"  and  in  another  instance,  "  the 
full  assurance  of  faith;"  and  in  both  cases  he  recommends  it, 
as  an  attainment  for  which  all  believers  should  earnestly  strive. 
The  Apostle  John  wrote  his  first  epistle,  as  he  says  towards 
the  close,  with  a  leading  view  to  enable  Christians  to  learn  the 
certainty  of  their  state — «•  These  things  have  I  written  unto 
you  that  believe  on  the  name  of  the  Son  of  God,  that  ye  may 
know  that  ye  have  eternal  life."  And  he  also  says — "  He 
that  believeth  on  the  Son  of  God,  hath  the  witness  in  him- 
self." The  Apostle  Peter  expressly  enjoins — "  Give  all  dili- 
gence to  make  your  calling  and  election  5wre." 

In  addition  to  this  scrijiture  testimon}^,  consider,  also,  the 
nature  of  the  subject.  The  point  directly  in  view  is,  that  the 
assurance  we  speak  of  flows  from  justification,  adoption,  and 
sanctification.  Now,  suppose  a  person  to  have  satisfactory 
evidence  that  he  is  justified  before  God  through  the  imputa- 
tion of  the  Saviour's  righteousness ;  that  he  is  adopted  into 
the  family  of  God;  and  that  he  is  sanctified  by  the  Holy 
Spirit, — suppose  he  has  satisfactory  evidence  of  all  this,  and 
assurance  of  the  love  of  God  will  necessarily  flow  from  it,  or 
be  its  certain  consequence.  The  fact  is,  that  assurance  al- 
ways is,  and  must  be,  derived  from  this  source.  It  is  more- 
over proportioned  to  the  clearness  of  the  evidence  we  have, 
that  we  are  in  a  justified,  adopted,  and  sanctified  state.  If 
that  evidence  is  full  and  complete,  assurance  of  God's  love 
will  be  full  and  complete  likewise — If  that  evidence  be  du- 
bious, we  shall  also  be  dubious  whether  we  are  the  objects  of 
God's  love.  For  although  it  may  not  be  proper,  strictly 
speaking,  to  say  that  there  are  degrees  of  assurance,  yet  in 
regard  to  the  subject  before  us,  it  is  not  only  true,  but  of 
much  importance  to  be  remembered,  that  the  hope  of  a  Chris- 
tian that  he  is  in  favour  with  God,  may  exist  in  a  great  varie- 

3  c 


386  LECTURES  ON  THE 

ty  of  degrees — from  those  first  drawings  which  only  saVe 
from  despair,  to  that  prevailing  hope  of  salvation,  which  is 
the  general  attainment  and  consolation  of  Christians;  and  so 
on  to  that  full  assurance  of  hope,  of  which  the  Apostle  speaks, 
and  which  the  answer  before  us  contemplates — It  is,  I  repeat, 
of  importance  to  know  and  remember,  that  this  blessed  hope 
may  exist  in  a  great  variety  of  degrees,  of  which  the  highest 
only  is  assurance.  It  is  also  to  be  noted,  that  the  same  Chris- 
tians may  have  different  degrees  of  hope  at  different  times, 
and  that  assurance  itself  may  be  repeatedly  lost  and  re- 
gained. 

There  are  two  ways  in  which  we  may  have  such  clear  evi- 
dence of  our  justification,  adoption,  and  sanctification,  that 
the  assurance  of  God's  love  may  flow  from  it.  The  first 
arises  from  the  influences  of  Divine  grace,  immediately  and 
powerfully  communicated  to  the  soul.  The  believer  then,  so 
sweetly,  and  unreservedly,  and  sensibly,  commits  his  soul  to 
Christ,  that  he  cannot  doubt  that  he  does  it:  the  Spirit  of 
adoption  breathes  on  his  soul,  and  he  cries  "Abba  Father:'^ 
the  Spirit  of  sanctification  raises  in  him  the  abhorrence  of  all 
sin,  and  an  ardent  hungering  and  thirsting  after  perfect  holi- 
ness— From  all  this  the  assurance  of  God's  love  necessarily 
and  immediately  flows — or  rather  it  often  accompanies,  and 
is  to  be  considered  as  itself  a  gift  of  the  holy  and  blessed 
Spirit. 

The  second  way  in  which  the  assurance  of  God's  love  may 
be  obtained  is,  by  a  careful,  close,  persevering,  and. prayerful 
examination  of  our  religious  exercises — our  state  of  heart  and 
life;  and  by  comparing  the  whole  with  what  the  word  of 
God  lays  down  as  marks  and  evidence  of  a  gracious  state; 
and  thus,  by  the  aids  of  the  blessed  Spirit,  forming  a  sound 
and  satisfactory  conclusion,  that  we  are  truly  in  the  love  and 
favour  of  God.  The  former  of  these  has  sometimes  been  call- 
ed the  sensible  assurance  of  God's  love;  the  latter  the  assu- 
rance of  faith.  We  may  lawfully  pray  with  submission,  for 
either;  or  for  both.  But  it  is  the  latter,  or  the  assurance  of 
faith,  which  we  are  chiefly  to  look  for.     The  following  ques- 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  387 

tions  and  answers  from  Fisher's  Catechism,  may  afford  useful 
instruction  on  this  subject. 

''Question.  What  may  afford  comfort  to  a  believer,  when 
at  any  time  he  loses  this  assurance? 

Answer.  That  the  covenant  stands  fast  with  Christ,  Psalm 
Ixxxix.  28:  that  the  love  of  God,  is  invariably  the  same, 
Zeph.  iii.  17;  and  that  he  will  in  his  own  time  return  with 
wonted  loving  kindness,  Isa.  liv.  7,  8. 

Q,  What  is  incumbent  on  believers  for  recovering  the  as- 
surance of  God's  love,  when  they  have  lost  the  present  sense 
of  it  ? 

«/?.  To  be  humbled  for  sin,  as  the  procuring  cause  of  the 
Lord's  departure.  Psalm  xl.  12 ;  to  justify  God  and  to  con- 
demn themselves,  Dan.  ix.  7,  8;  and  to  wait  in  the  exercise 
of  prayer  and  fasting,  for  the  returns  of  his  love,  Isa.  viii.  17. 

Q.  Of  what  advantage  to  believers  is  the  assurance  of 
God's  love  ? 

Ji.  It  animates  to  the  practice  of  every  commanded  duty, 
Psalm  cxix.  32 ;  it  supports  under  all  trials  and  afflictions, 
Psalm  xxiii.  4;  and  it  fills  the  soul  with  the  love  of  God  be- 
cause he  first  loved  us,  1  John  iv.  19. 

Q.  How  may  we  know  if  we  have  the  well  grounded  assu- 
rance of  God's  love  ? 

n^.  If  it  flow  from  faith  acted  on  Christ  in  the  promise, 
Eph.  i.  13;  if  it  fill  the  soul  with  an  humble  and  holy  won- 
dering at  the  condescending  goodness  of  God,  2  Sam.  vii.  IS; 
and  if  it  beget  ardent  desires  after  nearer  conformity  to  God 
here,  and  the  full  enjoyment  of  him  hereafter,  1  John  iii. 
2,3. 

Q.  What  is  the  difference  betwixt  a  true  assurance  of 
God's  love,  and  a  false  and  presumptuous  confidence? 

Ji.  True  assurance  makes  a  man  more  humble  and  self- 
denied,  Gal.  ii.  19,  28;  but  presumptuous  confidence  puffeth 
up  with  spiritual  pride  and  self-conceit,  2  Kings  x.  15,  16; 
the  one  excites  to  the  practice  of  every  commanded  duty. 
Psalm  cxix.  32;  but  the  other  encourages  sloth  and  indo- 
lence, Luke  xi.  21 ;  the  man  who  has  true  assurance  wants 


388  LECTURES  ON  THE 

to  be  searched  and  tried,  as  to  the  reality  thereof,  Psalm 
xxvi.  1,  2;  but  they  who  are  stuffed  with  presumptuous  con- 
fidence hate  the  light,  neither  come  to  the  light,  lest  their 
deeds  should  be  reproved,  John  iii.  20.'^ 

We  now  proceed  to  consider  the  second  benefit  which,  in 
this  life,  accompanies  or  flows  from  the  graces  we  contem- 
plate. This  IS, '^ peace  of  conscie7icey  Peace  of  conscience 
is  that  inward  quiet  and  tranquillity  of  the  mind,  which  pro- 
ceeds from  a  conviction  that  all  our  sins  are  pardoned  and 
blotted  out  for  the  sake  of  Christ,  and  that  God  is  truly  re- 
conciled, and  in  friendship  with  the  soul — "  Being  justified 
by  faith,  (says  the  apostle,)  we  have  peace  with  God  through 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  It  may  well  be  said  that  this  peace 
accompanies  and  flow^s  from  justification,  adoption,  and  sanc- 
tification,  because  "  there  is  no  peace,  saith  my  God,  to  the 
wicked. '^  None  can  have  true  peace  of  conscience  who  are 
not  justified,  adopted,  and  sanctified. 

Peace  of  conscience  flowing  from  justification,  is  experi- 
enced when  the  conscience,  being  sprinkled  with  the  blood 
of  Christ,  is  set  free  from  all  fear  of  the  deserved  wrath  of 
God  ;  and  what  a  precious  benefit  this  is,  can  be  fully  known 
only  to  those  who  have  felt  the  fear,  and  known  this  blessed 
peace  as  succeeding  to  it.  Again — Peace  of  conscience  flows 
from  adoption,  when  we  have  soul  quiet  and  composure,  in 
the  firm  faith  that  God  is  our  friend  and  Father  in  Christ 
Jesus.  Once  more — Peace  of  conscience  accompanies  sancti- 
fication,  when  the  blessed  Spirit  shines  on  the  soul  of  the 
saint,  warming  it  to  the  love  of  holiness,  and  assisting  and 
comforting  it  in  the  performance  of  duty. 

A  chief  cause  why  some  truly  and  even  eminently  pious 
persons  do  not  enjoy  more  peace  of  conscience  than  they  ac- 
tually possess,  is,  because  they  seek  it  more  than  they  ought 
from  sanctification,  and  less  than  they  ought  from  justifica- 
tion. Luther  has  given  an  admirable  explanation  of  this,  in 
his  commentary  on  the  epistle  to  the  Galatians.  God  forbid 
that  we  should  make  any  approach  to  the  delusion  of  the  An- 
tinomians,  or  speak  a  word  in  disparagement  of  sanctification. 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  389 

He  who  talks  of  inward  peace,  while  he  allows  himself  in 
sin,  is  a  hypocrite.  At  the  same  time,  it  is  an  unquestion- 
able truth,  that  sanctification,  in  the  present  life,  is  imperfect 
in  the  best;  and  that  the  more  of  it  we  have,  the  clearer  shall 
we  see,  and  the  more  deeply  feel  and  bewail,  the  remainders 
of  sin  and  depravity.  This  being  the  case,  if  we  seek  peace 
of  conscience,  only  or  chiefly  from  this  source,  it  must  of  ne- 
cessity be  very  imperfect.  But  the  righteousness  of  Christ 
is  perfect  and  complete,  and  when  the  soul  ventures  itself 
fully  and  sweetly  on  him,  it  must  have  the  sense  of  pardoned 
sin  and  peace  of  conscience,  as  the  consequence.  And  here, 
if  I  mistake  not,  is  the  real  cause  of  that  want  of  inward 
peace  which  many  of  God's  dear  people  experience.  They 
seek  it  legally — Let  them  indeed  press  earnestly  after  sancti- 
fication; but  let  them  seek  peace  of  conscience  chiefly  from 
the  blood  of  Christ.  A  stated  warfare  against  all  known  sin, 
a  constant  fear  of  offending  God,  and  a  sincere  endeavour  to 
please  him,  constitute  the  scriptural  evidence  of  our  being 
entitled  to  derive  that  peace  of  God  which  passeth  all  under- 
standing, from  the  peace  speaking  blood  of  Jesus. 

The  third  benefit  mentioned  in  the  answer,  as  flowing  from 
the  Christian  graces  we  have  considered  is — "Joy  in  the 
Holy  Ghost."  Joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost  (says  Fisher)  is  that 
inward  elevation  and  enlargement  of  soul,  which  flows  from 
the  lively  exercise  of  faith,  feasting  on  Christ  in  the  promise. 
"  In  whom  (says  the  apostle  Peter)  though  now  ye  see  him 
not,  yet  believing,  ye  rejoice  with  a  joy  unspeakable  and  full 
of  glory."  This  joy  receives  its  denomination  from  the  Au- 
thor of  it,  the  Comforter,  or  Holy  Ghost—"  I  will  pray  the 
Father,  (said  our  Lord,  in  his  last  intercessory  prayer  on 
earth)  and  he  shall  give  you  another  Comforter,  that  he  may 
abide  with  you  for  ever;  even  the  Spirit  of  truth,  whom  the 
world  cannot  receive  because  it  seeth  him  not,  neither  know- 
eth  him ;  but  ye  know  him,  for  he  dwelleth  with  you  and 
shall  be  in  you."  Accordingly  the  apostle  Paul  declares, 
that  "  the  kingdom  of  God  is  not  meat  and  drink;  but  right- 
eousness and  peace,  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost."     The  mat- 


390  LECTURES  ON  THE 

ter  or  ground  of  this  joy  is,  that  God,  in  Christ,  is  the  ever- 
lasting portion  of  the  believing  soul.  This  joy  is  described 
in  scripture  as  a  hidden  joy,  a  permanent  jo}^,  and  an  un- 
speakable joy — The  peculiar  seasons  of  this  joy  are  "  the 
times  of  special  manifestation  after  a  dark  night  of  desertion; 
the  time  of  tribulation  for  Christ^s  sake;  the  time  of  God's 
remarkable  appearance  for  his  church;  and  sometimes,  in  and 
about  the  time  of  death."  It  is,  however,  not  to  be  under- 
stood, that  this  holy  joy  is  confined  to  such  seasons;  or  that 
it  may  not  be  experienced  at  other  times.  But  as  there  are 
some  who  talk  of  joys  in  religion  amounting  even  to  rap- 
tures, who  too  evidently  show  that  all  their  exercises  are 
either  pretended  or  delusive,  it  is  to  be  carefully  remem- 
bered, that  the  genuine  joy  of  which  I  have  now  spoken, 
while  it  does  indeed  enliven  and  enlarge  the  soul,  does  also 
deeply  humble  it,  and  promote  the  work  of  sanctification  in 
it — The  true  joy  of  the  believer,  by  its  humbling,  sanctify- 
ing, and  quickening  effects,  distinguishes  itself  from  all  the 
false  joys  of  fanaticism  and  hypocrisy. 

The  fourth  benefit  flowing,  in  this  life,  from  justification, 
adoption,  and  sanctification,  is  increase  of  grace.  By  this 
we  are  to  understand  the  gradual  advances  which  true  be- 
lievers are  enabled  to  make  in  a  holy  temper,  in  the  actual 
exercise  of  the  Christian  graces,  and  in  all  the  duties  of  prac- 
tical godliness.  This  increase  of  grace  is  compared,  in  Scrip- 
ture, to  '''  the  shining  light  which  shineth  more  and  more 
unto  the  perfect  day.'^  The  vital  spring  of  a  believer's 
growth  in  grace,  is  his  union  with  Christ,  and  the  reception 
of  life-giving  influences  from  him.  *^I  am  the  vine,  (said 
Christ)  ye  are  the  branches;  he  that  abideth  in  me,  and  I  in 
him,  the  same  bringeth  forth  much  fruit;  for  without  me  ye 
can  do  nothing."  From  this  you  see  how  growth  in  grace 
is  connected  with  justification.  That  union  with  Christ, 
from  which  justification  proceeds,  is  also  the  source  of  growth 
in  grace ;  so  that  the  one  must  always  accompany  the  other. 

An  interest  in  all  the  promises  of  the  covenant  of  grace, 
which  follows  adoption,  is  also  deeply  concerned  in  a  growth 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  391 

in  grace.  Hence,  says  the  Apostle  Peter— ^^'  As  new  born 
babes,  desire  the  sincere  milk  of  the  word,  that  ye  may  grow 
thereby.^' 

We  have  already  seen  that  sanctification  is  a  progressive 
work;  and  progress  in  sanctification  is  precisely  what  we 
mean  by  an  increase  of  grace.  Of  course,  the  remark  made 
when  speaking  of  sanctification,  is  applicable  here — thaf  al- 
though there  is  an  increase  on  the  whole,  yet  there  are  sea- 
sons in  which  the  Christian's  progress  is  arrested ;  nay,  in 
which  for  a  time  he  is  losing  instead  of  gaining,  in  the  divine 
life.  Yet  even  these  seasons  of  barrenness  and  backsliding, 
like  the  cold  blasts  of  winter,  which  restrain  vegetation  and 
destroy  its  appearance,  are  the  very  reason  that  on  the  return 
of  the  warmth  of  spring,  the  growth  is  more  rapid,  and  the 
fruit  more  abundant.  The  falls  of  both  David  and  Peter, 
were  manifestly  overruled  to  promote  their  after  steadfastness, 
humility,  and  more  rapid  progress  in  holiness.  A  painful 
apprehension  and  sense  of  barrenness,  is  not  always  an  un- 
profitable state  for  the  believer.  At  the  very  time  when  the 
trees  in  the  garden  of  God  seem  to  be  dying,  they  are  often 
only  striking  their  roots  the  deeper  in  humility  and  Christian 
experience — that  they  may  afterwards  put  forth  fairer  blos- 
soms, and  yield  a  richer  and  more  plentiful  crop  of  fruit. 
Christians  often  mistake  their  own  case,  by  thinking  only  of 
one  kind  of  growth,  when  there  are,  in  reality,  various  kinds. 
A  believer  sometimes  increases  in  the  vigorous  exercise  of 
particular  graces;  sometimes  in  a  general  holy  temper;  some- 
times in  active  services  for  God,  and  in  doing  good  to  men; 
sometimes  in  heavenly  mindedness  and  contempt  of  the 
world;  sometimes  in  self-emptiedness  and  deep  self-abase- 
ment. Now,  although  a  Christian  may  want  those  sweet 
consolations  and  flows  of  affection,  which  sometimes  he  has 
had,  yet  if  he  be  growing  in  humility,  self-denial,  and  a  sense 
of  his  entire  dependance  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  he  is  still 
a  growing  Christian,— he  increases  in  grace.  When  Chris- 
tians cannot  perceive  their  growth,  they  are  sometimes  led 
to  doubt  whether  they  have  any  grace  at  all.     But  if  they 


392  LECTURES  ON  THE 

are  conscious  of  self-loathing  on  account  of  sin;  if  they  have 
a  desire  of  grace;  if  they  prize  Christ  above  all  things;  and 
if  they  love  his  people  for  his  sake,  their  doubts  and  fears  are 
groundless — They  are  not  destitute  of  the  principle  of  spiri- 
tual life,  although  it  may  be  less  operative,  or  less  percepti- 
ble, than  they  could  wish. 

The  last  benefit  resulting  to  believers  in  this  life,  from  jus- 
tification, adoption,  and  sanctification,  is  perseverance  in 
grace  to  the  end  of  life.  It  is,  my  dear  youth,  the  doctrine 
of  our  church,  that  those  who  are  justified,  adopted,  and  sanc- 
tified, never  fall,  totally  and  finally,  from  grace.  We  believe 
that  the  perseverance  of  the  saints  is  infallibly  secured  by  the 
immutability  of  electing  love;  by  an  indissoluble  union  with 
Christ;  by  the  merit  of  his  purchase;  by  the  prevalence  of 
his  intercession;  by  the  indwelling  of  his  Spirit;  and  by  the 
power  of  a  promising  God.  Quotations  from  scripture,  bear- 
ing fully  and  fairly  on  each  of  these  points  may,  we  think, 
be  easily  and  abundantly  adduced.  Our  time,  at  present,  for- 
bids me  to  detail  them  to  you — I  will  mention  but  one — The 
Apostle  Peter,  speaking  of  the  believers  in  general,  to  whom 
he  wrote,  says  of  them  expressly — "  Who  are  kept  by  the 
power  of  God,  through  faith  unto  salvation,  ready  to  be  re- 
vealed in  the  last  time" — And  here  you  will  remember, 
what  I  have  before  stated,  that  it  is  expressly  declared,  that 
whom  God  justifies,  them  he  also  glorifies — To  suppose  a  soul 
to  be  justified,  pardoned,  adopted  into  the  family  of  God,  and 
sanctified  by  his  Spirit;  and  after  all  to  be  suffered  again  to 
become  the  slave  of  sin  and  Satan,  be  entirely  thrown  out  of 
the  favour  of  God,  and  be  eternally  lost,  is,  in  our  apprehen- 
sion, one  of  the  grossest  absurdities  and  inconsistencies  ima- 
ginable :  And  what  is  worse,  it  seems  to  be  a  reflection  on 
the  wisdom  and  power,  as  well  as  the  goodness  and  faithful- 
ness of  the  Deity — that  he  should  begin  and  carry  on  to  a 
certain  length  such  a  glorious  work,  and  yet  never  complete 
it,  but  suff'er  the  adversary  to  wrest  his  own  sheep  out  of  the 
hand  of  their  great  Shepherd.  We  cannot  believe  this — we 
believe  that  the  final  perseverance  of  the  saints,  certainly  ac- 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  393 

companies  and  flows  from  justification,  adoption,  and  sancti- 
fication. 

That  there  have  been  hypocrites  in  reh'gion,  who  have  abused 
this  doctrine— as  they  do  every  doctrine— we  admit.  But 
what  is  the  chaff  to  the  wheat?  The  doctrine,  by  those  who 
understand  it  and  treat  it  according  to  its  legitimate  import, 
is  not  abused.  How  can  it  be?  The  doctrine  is,  that  the 
saints  will  persevere  in  grace.  If  they  do  not  persevere,  they 
of  course  are  not  saints,  and  are  entitled  to  no  hope  of  salva- 
tion. The  saints,  we  hold,  may  fall.  But  while  they  are  in 
a  fallen  state,  they  lose  their  evidence  of  being  in  a  safe 
state;  and  can  never  have  it  restored,  but  by  reformation  and 
repentance.  Remember,  I  repeat,  it  is  perseverance  in  grace 
that  we  hold,  and  you  will  see  that  the  doctrine  can  never 
lead  to  licentiousness.  But  surely  it  must  be,  and  certainly 
is,  a  most  desirable  and  encouraging  circumstance,  that  when 
a  believer  obtains  evidence  that  he  is  now  in  a  gracious  state, 
he  also  has  evidence  that  he  will  always  continue  in  that 
state,  and  will  not,  after  all,  be  eternally  lost. 

We  freely  admit,  that  there  have  been  many  who  have 
made  a  very  zealous  profession  of  religion,  who  did  not  per- 
severe in  it  to  the  end,  but  became  apostates,  infidels,  and 
profligates.  But  the  fair  conclusion  from  this  fact  is,  that 
these  apostates  never  were  what  they  pretended  and  pro- 
fessed to  be.  And  you  should  particularly  observe,  that  this 
is  the  very  account  which  the  Apostle  John  gives  of  this  sub- 
ject— Speaking  of  certain  corrupt  men  in  his  time,  he  says — 
"  They  went  out  from  us,  but  they  were  not  of  us;  for  if 
they  had  been  of  us  they  would  no  doubt  have  continued 
with  us;  but  they  went  out,  that  they  might  be  made  mani- 
fest that  they  were  not  all  of  us."  If  it  be  objected  to  this 
doctrine,  that,  St.  Paul  himself  says,  that  "he  kept  under  his 
body  and  brought  it  into  subjection,  lest  after  having  preach- 
ed to  others,  he  himself  should  be  a  castaway :  and  that  this 
seems  to  imply  that  he  might  be  a  castaway— We  answer  no 
—It  only  states  that  he  used  all  those  precautions,  which 
every  good  man  will  use,  to  avoid  danger  and  ensure  safety 

3d 


394  LECTURES  ON  THE 

The  truth  is,  that  it  is  through  the  influence  of  a  caution- 
ary fear,  as  a  principal  mean,  that  God  preserves  his  people. 
They  are  afraid  of  sin  and  of  a  declension  in  grace;  not  be- 
cause they  doubt  the  perseverance  of  the  saints,  but  because 
they  would  thereby  displease  God,  which  they  deeply  dread, 
and  would  also  lose  the  evidence  that  they  now  are,  or  ever 
were,  in  a  gracious  state,  and  thus  be  exposed  to  be  finally 
cast  away.  In  a  word,  their  fear  of  falling  is  made  instru- 
mental in  keeping  them  from  what  they  fear.  I  say  instru- 
mental, for  although  many  means  are  used,  it  is  God  who 
gives  them  all  effect,  and  upholds  his  people  by  his  power,  and 
the  constant  communications  of  his  grace.  The  perseverance 
of  the  saints  does  not,  in  any  instance,  depend  on  their  hav- 
ing such  a  stock  of  grace,  or  having  made  such  attainments  in 
religion,  as  to  ensure  perseverance.  By  no  means.  Adam, 
in  a  state  of  sinless  perfection,  when  standing  by  himself,  was 
seduced  by  Satan;  and  beyond  a  doubt,  the  same  great  ad- 
versary who  prevailed  against  him,  would  also  prevail  against 
any  of  his  less  perfect  posterity,  if  they  were  not  under  the 
guardianship  of  their  almighty  Saviour.  But  they  are  given 
to  him  in  covenant,  and  he  has  given  them  the  assurance  that 
he  will  preserve  them.  He  has  said — '^  My  sheep  hear  my 
voice,  and  I  know  them  and  they  follow  me ;  and  I  give  unto 
them  eternal  life ;  and  they  shall  never  perish,  neither  shall 
any  pluck  them  out  of  my  hand:  My  Father  which  gave 
them  me  is  greater  than  all ;  and  none  is  able  to  pluck  them 
out  of  my  Father's  hand — I  and  my  Father  are  one." 

In  concluding  this  lecture,  let  me  entreat  you  to  consider 
how  unspeakably  valuable — or  rather,  how  altogether  invalu- 
able— are  the  benefits  which,  even  in  this  life,  "do  accompa- 
ny or  flow  from  justification,  adoption,  and  sanctification.''  If 
you  were  permitted  to  choose  whether  you  would  have  an  as- 
surance of  God's  love,  peace  of  conscience,  joy  in  the  Holy 
Ghost,  increase  of  grace,  and  perseverance  therein  to  the  end ; 
or  whether,  at  the  expense  of  renouncing  these,  you  would 
choose  all  the  wealth  and  power  and  sensual  pleasures  which 
the  world  contains — would  you  not  be  justly  chargeable  with 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  395 

the  very  madness  of  folly,  if  you  should  hesitate  for  a  moment, 
to  make  sure  of  the  former,  rather  than  of  the  latter.  Why  then, 
my  dear  youth,  will  you  not  choose  and  seek  the  former,  when 
you  are  called,  in  doing  it,  to  renounce  nothing  that  is  really 
valuable;  nothing  that  will  diminish  your  present  happiness 
— Nay,  when  your  present  happiness  itself  will  be  unspeak- 
ably increased,  by  making  such  a  choice.  True  happiness 
infinitely  more  depends  on  the  inward  state  of  the  mind,  than 
on  any  outward  circumstances.  These  circumstances  may  in 
appearance  be  of  the  most  enviable  kind,  and  yet  he  who  is 
placed  in  them  may,  by  inward  disquietude  and  anguish,  be 
the  most  wretched  of  mortals.  This  has  often  been  seen  in 
fact.  But  on  the  other  hand,  the  benefits  which  the  answer  be- 
fore us  specifies,  give  such  inward  satisfaction,  such  pure,  and 
permanent  delight,  such  soul  filling  pleasure,  that  their  pos- 
sessor cannot  be  rendered  miserable  by  any  thing  outward. 
They  have  put  the  language  of  holy  ecstasy  and  triumph  into 
the  mouths  of  martyrs,  when  they  have  ascended  the  scafibid 
or  been  consumed  at  the  stake.  Make  it  then  your  first  and 
great  concern — view  it,  as  it  is  indeed,  the  one  thing  needful 
— to  secure,  each  for  himself,  a  share  in  these  benefits.  To 
lead  you  to  this,  is  the  object  of  all  my  addresses— it  is  the 
great  purpose  and  scope  of  the  blessed  gospel  which  you  so 
richly  enjoy.  Be  not  so  foolish,  so  stupid,  so  wicked,  as  to 
lose  these  benefits  by  carelessness,  by  sloth,  or  by  the  love  of 
sin.  Give  no  peace  to  yourselves,  till  you  have  that  "  peace 
of  God,  which  passeth  all  understanding.''     Amen. 


LECTURE  XXXII. 

Wlmt  benefits  do  believers  receive  from  Christ  at  death? 

We  are  now  to  consider  the  benefits  which  the  people  of 
God  receive  from  justification,  adoption,  and  sanctification, 
at  the  hour  of  death. 


396  LECTURES  ON  THE 

"  The  souls  of  believers  are  at  their  death  made  perfect  in 
holiness,  and  do  immediately  pass  into  glory;  and  their  bodies 
being  still  united  to  Christ,  do  rest  in  their  graves  till  the  re- 
surrection." 

True  Christians,  the  genuine  disciples  of  Christ,  are,  in  the 
answer  before  us,  denominated  believers;  and  they  are  called 
so  because  none  but  they,  really  and  practically  believe — 
none  but  they  believe  "  with  all  the  heart  to  the  saving  of 
the  soul."  An  historical,  speculative,  or  educational  belief 
of  the  gospel,  although  infinitely  preferable  to  deliberate  or 
careless  infidelity,  because  more  likely  to  lead  to  saving  faith, 
is  still  not  the  belief  which  is  connected  with  the  pardon  of 
sin,  and  with  life  everlasting.  The  faith  that  is  saving  afiects 
the  heart,  as  well  as  the  understanding — "  With  the  heart  man 
believeth  unto  righteousness."  True  practical  believers  have 
that  "  faith,  which  worketh  by  love" — the  faith  which  the 
gospel  demands  as  indispensable  to  salvation;  and  therefore 
they  are,  with  an  emphasis  which  is  proper  and  discriminat- 
ing, called  in  the  answer  before  us,  believers — To  all  others 
death  is  the  king  of  terrors.  Death  was  the  penalty  de- 
nounced for  sin;  and  to  all  who  remain  in  their  sins,  and 
under  the  sentence  of  the  violated  law,  this  penalty  in  all 
its  extent  is  executed,  when  the  body  dies.  They  have  lived 
under  the  influence  of  spiritual  death,  and  when  the  soul  is 
separated  from  the  body,  they  sufier  an  eternal  death. 

But  a  most  happy  difierence  distinguishes  the  lot  of  true 
believers.  In  virtue  of  their  union  with  Christ,  they  are  en- 
tirely delivered  from  the  sentence  and  curse  of  the  law,  from 
the  desert  and  dominion  of  sin.  "  The  sting  of  death  is  sin, 
and  the  strength  of  sin  is  the  law."  But  from  both  these  the 
believer  is  freed  at  the  dissolution  of  the  body,  and  hence 
even  "  the  king  of  terrors"  becomes  a  friend  to  the  believer. 
Death  is  one  of  the  articles  in  the  inventory  of  his  blessings; 
and  he  is  enabled  to  triumph  and  say — "  0  death  where  is 
thy  sting!  0  grave  where  is  thy  victory!— -Thanks  be  to  God, 
who  giveth  us  the  victory  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 
Death  to  believers  is  indeed  a  great  gain.     At  death  they 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  397 

receive  benefits  from  their  Redeemer  of  the  most  precious 
kind,  which,  till  then,  they  could  not  receive.— Their  souls 
are  then  "  made  perfect  in  holiness.^^  Sin  first  contaminates 
the  soul  when  it  is  united  to  the  body,  and  the  contamination 
will  in  some  degree  remain,  while  the  connexion  between 
soul  and  body  lasts.  But  as  we  are  assured  that  there  shall 
in  nowise  enter  into  the  New  Jerusalem  above,  "  any  thing 
that  defileth,"  it  is  the  divine  constitution  that  all  the  re- 
maining corruptions  of  believers  shall  be  dropt  with  their 
bodies;  and  that  their  souls  shall  then  be  made  perfect  in  holi- 
ness, and  capable  of  full  and  uninterrupted  communion  with 
God. 

This  is  an  event  after  which  the  soul  of  every  saint  has  ear- 
nestly panted.  Oh  how  has  it  groaned  under  that  body  of 
death,  which  it  has  dragged  through  the  whole  of  its  spiritual 
life!  How  has  it  wished  and  struggled  to  get  free!  How  has 
it  sighed  after  a  complete  deliverance  from  all  sin  ! — no  more 
to  be  tormented  by  the  risings  of  sinful  passions,  no  more  an- 
noyed by  unholy  propensities,  no  more  hindered  in  holy  ex- 
ercises: And  all  this  is  now  completely  attained — Quitting 
the  earthly  tabernacle,  all  sin  is  left  behind,  and  the  happy 
emancipated  spirit  comes  forth,  as  pure  as  that  which  ani- 
mated Adam  before  the  fall;  a  spirit  fitted  for  glory,  fitted  for 
heaven. 

Our  catechism  affirms  that  the  souls  of  believers  imme- 
diately pass  into  glory:  This  position  is  opposed,  and  was 
intended  to  be  so,  to  two  gross  errors— The  first  is,  the  error 
of  those  who  hold  that  there  is  an  intermediate  state,  which 
they  denominate  jt?wr^«/or3/— The  second,  that  of  those  who 
maintain  that  the  soul  after  death  sleeps  with  the  body,  till 
the  resurrection.  As  to  the  first  of  these— the  doctrine  of 
purgatory— it  is  altogether  a  human  invention,  without  even 
a  colourable  countenance  from  the  word  of  God.  There  is 
not  a  sentence  or  a  word  of  canonical  scripture,  which  has 
even  a  plausible  bearing  on  the  doctrine  of  purgatory.  That 
which  looks  the  most  like  it,  is  in  the  first  epistle  of  Peter; 
where  it  is  said,  speaking  of  the  Spirit  of  Christ-"  that  he 


398  LECTURES  ON  THE 

went  and  preached  unto  the  spirits  in  prison,  which  some- 
time were  disobedient,  when  once  the  long  suffering  of  God 
waited  in  the  days  of  Noah."  But  the  meaning  of  this  text 
appears  to  be,  that  the  Spirit  of  Christ  influenced  Noah,  who 
was  "  a  preacher  of  righteousness,"  to  warn  the  unhappy  men, 
whose  spirits  were  then,  and  still  are,  in  prison — to  warn  them 
of  thedanger  which  was  so  near  them  while  the  ark  was  prepar- 
ing— Now,  to  build  such  a  momentous  doctrine  as  that  of  pur- 
gatory on  a  passage  admitting  of  this  construction,  and  on  one 
or  two  others,  still  more  violently  tortured  for  the  purpose, 
shows  the  total  want  of  a  solid  foundation  for  the  superstructure 
which  is  erected.  It  may  also  be  added,  that  even  the  pas- 
sages which  are  brought  from  the  apocryphal  writings,  which 
are  not  canonical  scripture,  do  not  warrant  this  doctrine,  as  it 
is  held  and  taught  by  the  church  of  Rome:  And  indeed, 
some  of  their  most  able  writers  admit,  that  it  has  no  clear 
foundation  in  the  sacred  oracles.  It  appears  to  have  been 
borrowed  from  the  heathen  mythology ;  and  although  there 
were  some  earlier  notions  in  regard  to  it,  the  doctrine,  as  now 
held  by  the  Papists,  did  not  receive  its  shape,  till  more  than 
four  hundred  years  after  the  death  of  Christ. 

As  to  the  other  error  I  have  referred  to,  namely,  that  the 
soul  sleeps  with  the  body  from  death  till  the  resurrection,  it 
not  only  has  no  countenance  from  scripture,  but  is,  I  think, 
directly  contrary  to  it.  Even  on  the  principles  of  natural 
reason,  and  the  analogy  of  things,  the  balance  of  evidence  is 
against  it.  For  although  I  will  not  affirm  that  the  arguments 
in  favour  of  the  natural  immortality  of  the  soul  are  absolutely 
conclusive,  yet  I  do  think  them  far  more  plausible  than  those 
of  an  opposite  kind.  Divisibility  and  inaction  are  two  essen- 
tial properties  of  all  matter ;  and  on  the  other  hand,  indivisi- 
bility and  activity  seem  to  be  essential  properties  of  spirit: 
But  things  which  differ  in  essential  properties,  cannot  reason- 
ably be  supposed  to  be  subject  to  the  same  laws.  And  as  to 
appearances,  we  see  the  soul,  in  some  cases,  retaining  all  its 
powers,  when  the  body  is  wasted  to  a  shadow,  and  till  the 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  399 

very  moment  of  dissolution.     These  seem  to  be  strong  indi- 
cations, that  the  soul  may  act  independently  on  the  body. 

But  after  all,  it  is  the  word  of  God  that  must  decide  this 
point.  And  to  my  apprehension  it  decides  clearly — ^'  To-day 
thou  shalt  be  with  me  in  paradise"— said  our  Lord  to  the  pe- 
nitent malefactor.  Yes,  say  our  opponents — "  But  one  day 
is  with  the  Lord  as  a  thousand  years,  and  a  thousand  years  as 
one  day."  And  did  our  Saviour,  I  ask,  say  ''one  day,^'  or 
''in  one  day,^^  thou  shalt  be  with  me  in  paradise.  No — he 
said  "to-day"  or  "this  day^^ — It  is  the  same  original  word, 
<rtifAepov,  rendered  "  this  day,"  in  the  Lord's  prayer.  And  it 
seems  undeniable  that  he  could  mean  no  other  than  the  7iatu- 
ral  day  on  which  he  spoke — for  there  can  be  no  reasonable 
doubt  that  the  malefactor  so  understood  the  declaration,  and 
we  cannot  believe  that  our  Lord  would  deceive  him  by  an 
equivocal  expression.  No,  assuredly— that  very  day  the  soul 
of  this  penitent  thief  was  to  meet,  and  we  doubt  not  did  meet, 
his  Saviour,  in  the  paradise  above.  As  to  those  who  would 
read  the  passage — "  To-day  I  say  unto  thee" — or,  "  I  say 
unto  thee  to-day,  thou  shalt  be  with  me  in  paradise," — I  know 
not  whether  so  gross  a  cavil  ought  even  to  be  mentioned. — 
According  to  this  arrangement  of  the  sentence,  the  words  "  to- 
day," could  have  no  other  use  than  to  render  our  Lord's  decla- 
ration emphatick.  But  that,  you  will  observe,  had  been  done 
already — "  Verily  I  say  unto  thee" — Not  one  of  the  ancient 
versions,*  some  of  them  made  when  the  Greek  was  yet  a  liv- 
ing language,  but  disproves  this  rendering  of  the  original ;  and 
I  am  persuaded  it  never  would  have  been  thought  on,  if  it  had 
not  been  sought  for,  with  a  view  to  serve  and  save  a  favourite 
hypothesis. 

Again — In  what  our  Saviour  says  of  the  rich  man  and  La- 
zarus, the  whole  representation  rests  on  this  supposition,  that 
souls  experience  happiness  or  misery  in  a  future  world,  while 
their  bodies  are  sleeping  in  the  dust.  I  know  it  is  said  that 
this  is  hut  a  parable.  The  scripture,  however,  does  not  say 
or  intimate  that  it  is  a  parable.  But  admit  the  whole  repre- 
-^  See  Walton's  Polyglott. 


400  LECTURES  ON  THE 

sentation  to  be  parabolical,  still  it  must  be  remembered  that 
parables  are  intended  to  illustrate  facts  and  truths;  and  every 
other  parable  that  our  Saviour  ever  spoke  might,  for  any 
thing  it  contains,  be  a  simple  statement  of  facts.  He  never 
spake  parables  out  of  nature;  And  to  suppose  that  he  has 
grounded  this  representation  on  a  state  of  things  which  never 
happens,  and  never  can  happen,  is  contrary  to  the  whole 
tenour  of  our  Lord's  discourses.  It  therefore  certainly  does 
teach  that  souls  live  and  act — are  happy  or  miserable — while 
the  bodies  which  they  once  animated,  are  yet  in  their  graves. 
But  there  is  one  of  our  Saviour's  lessons  of  instruction, 
which  should  put  this  point  beyond  all  controversy;  because 
its  whole  force  and  meaning  rest  solely  on  the  fact,  that  after 
the  bodies  of  men  are  turned  to  dust,  their  spirits  live  and  are 
conscious.  I  refer  to  the  manner  in  which  he  silenced  the 
Sadducess,  who  denied  a  future  state  altogether  ;  though  they 
professed  to  be  the  disciples  of  Moses,  and  to  believe  his  writ- 
ings. Our  Saviour  confounded  these  men  by  quoting  a  sentence 
from  the  writings  of  Moses,  and  making  one  short  comment 
on  it.  The  sentence  is  this — "  I  am  the  God  of  Abraham, 
and  the  God  of  Isaac,  and  the  God  of  Jacob" — Then  follows 
the  comment — "  God  is  not  the  God  of  the  dead,  but  of  the 
living" — That  is,  plainly,  God  spake  these  words  to  Moses, 
some  hundred  years  after  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob  were 
dead  as  to  their  bodies,  and  yet  they  were  still  living,  as  to 
their  souls.  In  other  words,  he  spake  of  living  meji,  whose 
bodies  had  long  been  turned  to  dust.  The  whole  pertinence, 
force,  and  meaning  of  our  Saviour's  words  turn  on  this  very 
point,  that  the  patriarchs  were  living,  when  God  spake  to 
Moses.  Here,  therefore,  we  have  our  Saviour's  seal  set  on 
this  truth. 

Agreeably  to  this  teaching  of  his  Divine  Master,  the  Apos- 
tle Paul  speaks  of  being  ''  absent  from  the  body,  and  present 
with  the  Lord."  Now  this,  it  is  plain,  would  be  absolutely 
impossible,  if  the  spirit  never  can  subsist  when  absent,  or  sepa- 
rated from  the  body.  In  like  manner,  when  he  says—"  Whe- 
ther in  the  body,  or  out  of  the  body,  I  cannot  tell"— he  evi- 


SHORTER    CATECHISM.  401 


IS 


dently  supposes  both  to  be  possible.  It  virtually  falsifies  h 
language  to  say— that  to  be  out  of  the  body  is  impossible;  for 
this  is  one  of  his  suppositions— a  circumstance  which  he  sup- 
poses might  have  taken  place  in  fact.  He  also  had  "  a  desire 
to  depart,  and  to  be  with  Christ,  which  is  far  better."  To  de- 
part from  what?  From  the  world  certainly — and  we  think 
from  the  body  too.  But  no,  say  our  opponents — He  was  to 
depart  from  the  world,  and  to  sleep  some  three  or  four  thou- 
sand years  in  the  dust  of  death,  all  of  which  would  seem  but 
a  moment,  till  the  resurrection,  and  after  that  he  should  be 
with  Christ.  Is  this — let  common  sense  pronounce,  for  com- 
mon sense  is  one  of  the  best  interpreters  of  scripture — Is  this 
the  meaning  which  naturally  suggests  itself  when  the  apostle 
says — "  I  have  a  desire  to  depart  and  to  be  with  Christ" — 
No,  it  is  not.  The  words  plainly  import,  and  the  apostle, 
there  is  no  doubt  meant,  that  to  depart  and  to  be  with  Christ, 
were  events  to  take  place  at  the  same  time.  The  two  things 
were,  in  his  mind,  indissolubly  and  immediately  connected. 

We  return  from  this  long,  but  not  unimportant  digression, 
to  dwell  for  a  moment  on  the  delightful  thought,  that  "the 
souls  of  believers  do,  at  death,  immediately  pass  into  glory." 
The  moment  the  connexion  between  the  soul  and  the  body  is 
dissolved,  the  happy  spirit  of  the  saint — perhaps,  like  that  of 
Lazarus,  convoyed  by  angels — wings  its  way  to  glory.  How 
new  and  interesting  the  state  in  which  the  emancipated  spirit 
now  finds  itself!  All  pain,  and  sickness,  and  sorrow,  and 
sin,  left  for  ever  behind:  all  danger,  and  doubt,  and  conflict, 
and  imperfection,  forever  terminated:  all  the  principles  of 
immortal  health,  vigour,  activity,  holiness,  and  happiness  un- 
utterable, yielding  their  best  and  sweetest  influence.  Thus 
the  soul  of  the  believer  enters  into  glory;  a  glory  which  eye 
hath  not  seen,  nor  ear  heard,  nor  of  which  the  full  conception 
hath  entered  the  heart  of  man. 

Yet  to  give  us  some  faint  idea  of  that  which  our  powers  at 
present  are  inadequate  fully  to  comprehend  or  sustain,  God 
hath  been  pleased  to  represent  heavenly  happiness  to  us,  by  a 
variety  of  emblems.     It  is  called  "  a  kingdom,"  to  denote  the 

3e 


402  LECTURES  ON  THE 

fulness  and  extent  of  all  spiritual  and  eternal  good  which  the 
saints  there  enjoy,  and  the  glorious  dignity  to  which  they  are 
advanced;  they  are  made  kings  and  priests  unto  God  and 
the  Father ;  they  receive  a  crown  of  life  which  fadeth  not 
away.  Heaven  is  also  called  "  a  house  not  made  with  hands," 
to  denote  the  unspeakable  glory  of  the  heavenly  mansions, 
beyond  the  most  stately  or  splendid  palaces  built  by  the 
hands  of  men.  To  intimate  its  satisfying  nature,  it  is  called 
*^an  inheritance,  incorruptible,  and  undefiled,  and  that  fadeth 
not  away."  It  is  also  denominated  "  a  better  country,"  to 
show  that  there  is  no  adequate  comparison  between  the  things 
which  are  seen  and  temporal,  and  the  things  which  are  unseen 
and  eternal. 

It  now  only  remains  to  take  a  short  notice  of  the  conclu- 
sion of  the  answer  before  us,  which  relates  to  the  bodies  of 
believers — "  Their  bodies  being  still  united  to  Christ,  do  rest 
in  their  graves  till  the  resurrection."  When  believers  are 
united  to  Christ  by  faith,  his  union  with  them  is  with  their 
whole  persons,  both  soul  and  body;  and  the  passages  of  scrip- 
ture are  not  few,  in  which  the  bodies  of  the  saints  are  repre- 
sented as  the  peculiar  property  of  Christ,  as  well  as  their 
souls.  It  is  remarkable  that  when  the  Apostle  Paul  bids  a 
kind  of  holy  challenge,  for  any  one  to  tell  what  shall  separate 
the  saints  from  their  Lord,  he  expressly  states  that  death 
shall  not  separate  them— As  their  souls  are  immediately 
translated  to  glory,  so  their  bodies  also  are  considered  as  the 
present  property  of  Christ — as  members  of  his  mystical  body; 
and  as  such,  after  they  shall  have  mouldered  to  dust,  they 
shall  certainly  be  raised  glorious  and  incorruptible.  "As  at 
the  death  of  Christ,  though  his  human  soul  was  separated 
from  his  body,  yet  neither  the  one  nor  the  other  was  sepa- 
rated from  his  Divine  person ;  so  neither  the  soul  nor  the 
body  of  the  believer  shall  be  separated  from  Christ,  when 
parted  from  each  other  by  death ;  but  both  of  them  shall  re- 
main indissolubly  united  to  him  forever.  Hence  the  grave, 
which  is  a  prison  to  the  wicked,  where  their  bodies  are  kept 
in  custody  to  the  judgment  of  the  great  day,  is  to  the  saints  a 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  403 

place  of  rest.  For  them  their  Redeemer,  when  he  entered 
the  tomb,  sweetened  and  hallowed  it,  and  they  are  said  to 
rest  in  their  graves.  Their  graves  are  like  beds  of  ease, 
where  their  bodies  lie  in  safety,  till  they  be  joyfully  awa- 
kened in  the  morning  of  the  resurrection.  Hence,  too,  their 
resting  in  the  grave  is  expressed,  in  scripture,  by  <^  sleeping 
in  Jesus;"  intimating  that  they  sleep  in  union  with  Jesus, 
and  that  his  Spirit  keeps  possession  of  their  dust,  which  he 
will  quicken  and  rebuild  as  his  temple,  at  the  last  day."* 
These  ideas  are  expressed  with  equal  beauty  and  justice  by 
Dr.  Watts,  in  the  18th  hymn  of  his  first  book,  and  the  110th 
of  the  second — 

Hear  what  the  voice  from  heaven  proclaims 

For  all  the  pious  dead ! 
Sweet  is  the  savour  of  their  names, 

And  soft  their  sleeping  bed. 

They  die  in  Jesus,  and  are  bless'd ; 

How  kind  their  slumbers  are ! 
From  sufF'rings  and  from  sins  releas'd, 

And  freed  from  every  snare. 

Far  from  this  world  of  toil  and  strife, 

They're  present  with  the  Lord ; 
The  labours  of  their  mortal  life 

End  in  a  large  reward. 

And  must  this  body  die  ? 

This  mortal  frame  decay  ? 
And  must  these  active  limbs  of  mine 

Lie  mould'ring  in  the  clay  ? 

Corruption,  earth,  and  worms, 

Shall  but  refine  this  flesh, 
Till  my  triumphant  spirit  comes 

To  put  it  on  afresh. 

God  my  Redeemer  lives. 

And  often  from  the  skies 
Looks  down  and  watches  all  my  dust. 

Till  he  shall  bid  it  rise. 


Altered  from  Fisher's  Catechism. 


404  LECTURES  ON  THE 

Array'd  in  glorious  grace 

Siiall  these  vile  bodies  shine, 
And  every  shape  and  every  face 

Look  heavenly  and  divine. 

These  lively  hopes  we  owe 

To  Jesus'  dying  love : 
We  would  adore  his  grace  below. 

And  sing  his  power  above. 

Dear  Lord,  accept  the  praise 

Of  these  our  humble  songs, 
Till  tunes  of  nobler  sound  we  raise 

With  our  immortal  tongues. 

My  dear  youth,  although  I  have  lived  many  more  years 
than  you,  yet  even  since  these  lectures  commenced,  I  have 
stood  by  the  side  of  the  death  bed  of  some  of  your  number : 
Nor  is  it  improbable,  although  my  life  is  more  uncertain  than 
the  most  of  yours,  that  I  shall  stand  by  the  death  bed  of  some 
of  you,  who  now  hear  me.  And  when  1  stand  there,  tell  me, 
shall  I  witness  in  you  the  benefits  which  believers  receive 
from  Christ  at  their  death?  Shall  I  see  you  welcome  the  king 
of  terrors?  Shall  I  see  you  triumph  oyer  him?  Shall  I  see 
you  joyfully  anticipating  the  approaching  moment,  when 
your  souls  shall  be  made  perfect  in  holiness,  and  pass  imme- 
diately into  glory  ?  Or  shall  I  see  all  the  reverse  ?  0  shall 
I  see  you  filled  with  agonizing  fear!  Utterly  unprepared  to 
die,  and  yet  forced  to  meet  your  Judge  ! — The  one  side  or  the 
other  of  this  interesting  alternative,  you  may  experience,  al- 
though I  should  not  witness  it.  And  remember,  you  are 
likely  to  die  with  joy,  or  with  horror,  according  as  you  are, 
or  are  not,  believers,  in  the  sense  of  the  answer  before  us. 
Will  you  not,  then,  seek  that  faith  in  Christ,  and  that  union 
with  him,  which  will  be  found  so  infinitely  important  in  a 
dying  hour,  and  in  all  the  dread  eternity  which  follows? 
Will  you  trifle  away  your  precious  time  of  probation,  and 
run  the  risk  of  being  summoned  to  death  and  judgment,  with- 
out any  preparation  ?  Oh  if  I  could  see  you  seeking  a  saving 
interest  in  Christ! — could  see  you  in  earnest  and  deeply  soli- 
citous to  be  the  Lord's — it  would  afibrd  the  happiest  presage. 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  405 

God  hath  said,  "they  that  seek  me  early  shall  find  me." 
Seize  on  this  promise  while  you  may.  To  you  it  is  now  ad- 
dressed. You  are  now  in  early  life.  At  a  more  advanced 
age,  even  if  you  should  live  to  such  an  age—as  you  have  no 
certainty  that  you  will— you  will  not  be  able  then  to  plead 
this  promise.  Will  not  some  of  you,  therefore — nay,  will 
not  all  of  you,  resolve  this  very  hour,  in  the  strength  of  God, 
that  you  will  begin  to  seek  his  favour  in  earnest;  determined 
never  to  give  over  the  suit,  till  you  have  satisfactory  evidence 
that  you  are  vitally  united  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ— that  you 
have  "  believed  on  him  to  life  everlasting.'^ — Amen. 


LECTURE  XXXIII. 

What  benefits  do  believers  receive  from  Christ  at  the  Resurrection? 

Having  seen,  in  the  order  in  v^hich  they  are  exhibited  in 
our  catechism,  the  primitive  holy  and  happy  state  of  man ; 
his  loss  of  his  original  rectitude,  and  the  miseries  consequent 
on  that  loss;  the  provision  made  for  his  restoration  in  the  re- 
demption by  Christ;  and  the  rich  and  inestimable  benefits 
which  believers  receive  from  that  redemption,  both  while 
they  live  and  when  they  die — we  are  now  to  contemplate  the 
consummation  of  their  felicity,  at  the  resurrection  in  the  last 
day — "  At  the  resurrection,  believers  being  raised  up  in  glory, 
shall  be  openly  acknowledged  and  acquitted  in  the  day  of 
judgment,  and  made  perfectly  blessed  in  the  full  enjoying  of 
God  to  all  eternity." 

The  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  is  derived 
wholly  from  the  Bible.  The  heathen  had  some  notions  of  a 
future  state  of  rewards  and  punishments,  where  the  souls  of 
good  men  would  be  happy,  and  those  of  bad  men  miserable. 
But  they  had  not,  in  all  their  systems,  a  single  trace  of  the 
doctrine,  that  the  body  is  to  be  raised  and  rendered  immortal. 


406  LECTURES  ON  THE 

Hence  we  are  told  that  when  Paul  discoursed  on  Mars'  hill, 
at  Athens,  the  most  distinguished  city  of  Greece,  and  the 
most  renowned  for  science  in  the  pagan  world — "  when  they 
heard  of  the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  some  mocked."  That 
there  should  be  a  resurrection  of  the  body,  was  an  idea  that 
had  never  been  presented  to  their  minds  before;  and  as  they 
believed  themselves  far  superior  in  knowledge  to  a  barbarous 
Jew — which  was  the  character  of  Paul  in  their  estimation — 
they  could  not  restrain  the  expression  of  their  contempt  and 
scorn,  at  the  promulgation  of  this  novel,  and  as  they  esteem- 
ed it,  extravagant  and  absurd  notion.  Yet  it  will  be  found, 
my  children,  that  this  doctrine,  which  human  reason  of  itself 
never  glanced  at,  commends  itself  to  our  reason,  now  that  it 
is  revealed :  that  is,  it  may  be  shown  to  be  correspondent  to 
those  notions  of  the  perfect  equity  of  the  Deity,  which  rea- 
son teaches.  The  whole  of  every  human  being,  both  body 
and  soul,  has  been  concerned  in  all  the  good  or  the  evil  done  in 
this  life:  And  although  the  body  has  been  no  more  than  the 
servant  or  instrument  of  the  soul,  yet  it  may  serve  to  illustrate 
the  goodness  of  God  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  strictness  of  his 
justice  on  the  other,  when  even  that  which  was  instrumental 
to  good  or  evil,  is  connected  with  the  proper  agent,  in  glory 
or  in  dishonour. 

As  to  the  possibility  of  a  resurrection,  none  can  refuse  to 
admit  that  Almighty  power,  by  which  matter  was  formed  out 
of  nothing  at  first,  and  by  which  our  bodies  were  organized 
and  animated  before  their  dissolution,  can  reorganize  and  re- 
animate them  anew,  after  they  shall  have  been  dissolved. 
There  is  one  analogy  in  proof  and  illustration  of  this,  con- 
stantly occurring  in  nature,  which  is  noticed  in  scripture, 
first  by  our  Lord  himself,  and  afterwards  by  the  Apostle 
Paul — It  is,  that  grain,  after  it  is  sown,  perishes  utterly,  be- 
fore a  new  growth  arises.  Speaking  of  his  own  death  and 
resurrection,  our  Lord  says — "Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto 
you — Except  a  corn  of  wheat  fall  into  the  ground  and  die, 
it  abideth  alone;  but  if  it  die,  it  bringeth  forth  much  fruit." 
St.  Paul,  speaking  of  the  general  resurrection,  goes  more  at 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  407 

length  into  the  illustration.  Attend  to  the  following  passage, 
1  Cor.  XV.  35—44:  "  But  some  man  will  say,  How  are  the 
dead  raised  up?  and  with  what  body  do  they  come?  Thou 
fool!  that  which  thou  sowest  is  not  quickened,  except  it  die  : 
And  that  which  thou  sowest,  thou  sowest  not  that  body  that 
shall  be,  but  bare  grain,  it  may  chance  of  wheat,  or  of  some 
other  grain:  But  God  giveth  it  a  body  as  it  hath  pleased  him, 
and  to  every  seed  his  own  body.  All  flesh  is  not  the  same 
flesh:  but  there  is  one  kind  of  flesh  of  men,  another  flesh  of 
beasts,  another  of  fishes,  and  another  of  birds.  There  are 
also  celestial  bodies,  and  bodies  terrestrial :  but  the  glory  of 
the  celestial  is  one,  and  the  glory  of  the  terrestrial  is  another. 
There  is  one  glory  of  the  sun,  and  another  glory  of  the  moon, 
and  another  glory  of  the  stars :  for  one  star  difiereth  from 
another  star  in  glory.  So  also  is  the  resurrection  of  the  dead. 
It  is  sown  in  corruption ;  it  is  raised  in  incorruption :  it  is 
sown  in  dishonour;  it  is  raised  in  glory:  it  is  sown  in  weak- 
ness; it  is  raised  in  power:  it  is  sown  a  natural  body;  it  is 
raised  a  spiritual  body.  There  is  a  natural  body,  and  there 
is  a  spiritual  body." 

The  question  has  often  been  asked  on  this  subject — how 
can  the  same  particles  of  matter  which  compose  the  bodies 
that  die,  belong,  in  all  cases,  to  the  bodies  which  shall  be 
raised?  Human  bodies,  it  is  said,  turn  to  dust,  and  are  con- 
verted into  vegetables,  on  which  other  human  beings  feed: 
Or  they  are  devoured  by  beasts,  which  furnish  food  for  man: 
Or  they  are  sometimes  devoured  even  by  men  themselves. 
Hence  it  must  happen  that  certain  portions  or  particles  of 
matter,  must  have  belonged  to  two  different  bodies — perhaps 
even  to  a  hundred— and  how,  it  is  demanded,  can  each  of 
these  bodies  severally  claim  those  portions  which  have  be- 
longed to  all  equally?  Is  the  thing  not  an  absolute  impossibi- 
lity? We  readily  admit  that  it  is,  and  have  with  design 
stated  the  objection  in  all  its  force;  because  it  is  sometimes 
represented  as  very  formidable,  although  in  reality  there  is 
no  weight  in  it  at  all.  We  call  a  tree  the  same  tree,  when  it 
is  ten  years  old,  and  when  it  is  a  hundred ;  and  a  man  the 


408  LECTURES  ON  THE 

same  man,  when  he  is  twenty,  and  when  he  is  fourscore: 
Yet,  probably,  neither  the  tree  nor  the  man,  has,  at  the  latter 
period,  half  the  identical  particles  of  matter,  of  the  former 
period.  Some  parts,  however,  are  probably  never  entirely 
changed.  The  scripture  no  where  says  that  the  same  nume- 
rical particles  of  matter  which  are  deposited  in  the  grave, 
shall  belong  to  the  body  that  shall  rise.  Without  this,  as  the 
illustrations  I  have  mentioned  sufficiently  show,  it  may  be 
truly  said  that  the  same  body  rises.  Some  essential  parts  of 
the  body  that  died  will  rise; — enough,  when  united  to  the 
conscious  spirit,  to  denominate  it,  in  the  usual  acceptation  of 
language,  the  same  body.  And  this  is  all  that  any  passage  of 
scripture  requires,  to  satisfy  its  full  import. 

The  matter  of  which  our  bodies  are  composed  will,  it  is 
manifest,  undergo  a  wonderful  transformation.  "  It  is  sown 
a  natural  body — It  is  raised  a  spiritual  body.  There  is  a 
natural  body,  and  there  is  a  spiritual  body.^^  This  spiritual 
body,  as  the  apostle  denominates  it,  will  not  be  subject  to  the 
laws  of  the  natural  body.  It  will  subsist  without  material 
sustenance — It  will  need  no  supplies  or  repairs.  It  will  be 
incorruptible  and  indestructible;  capable  of  pleasures,  or  of 
pains,  which  our  bodies,  at  present,  could  not  endure.  It 
will  plainly  not  be  subject  to  the  usual  laws  of  gravitation — 
which  probably  is  a  part  of  what  the  apostle  intends,  by  call- 
ing it  a  spiritual  body.  The  laws  of  matter,  and  all  those 
which  are  called  the  laws  of  nature,  are  nothing  more,  as  I 
have  shown  you,  than  another  phrase  for  the  appointment  and 
will  of  God.  He  can  change,  suspend,  or  alter  those  laws, 
at  pleasure;  and  in  some  respects,  he  certainly  will  do  so, 
in  regard  to  the  bodies  both  of  saints  and  sinners,  at  the  re- 
surrection. 

The  difference  between  the  natural  and  the  spiritual  body, 
has  a  most  beautiful  illustration,  in  a  very  common  process  of 
nature ;  which  I  have  sometimes  thought  the  great  Author  of 
nature,  might  have  appointed  on  purpose  to  illustrate  this 
very  truth.  A  large  part  of  the  insect  tribes,  are,  in  one  pe- 
riod of  their  existence,  unsightly,  inactive,  or  crawling  reptiles. 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  409 

In  another  period  of  their  existence,  they  are  amonj:^  the  most 
beautiful  and  active  beings  in  the  animal  creation.  Myriads 
of  torpid  moths  and  worms,  during  winter,  sleep  in  the  earth, 
or  are  frozen  on  its  surface;  but  in  a  few  revolving  weeks  they 
are  transformed,  and  assume  bodies  which  shine  in  all  the  co- 
lours of  the  rainbow,  and  wing  their  flight  through  every  region 
of  the  air.  The  transition  of  man,  from  the  natural  to  the  spi- 
ritual, or  glorified  state,  is  scarcely  greater  or  more  wonderful. 
The  soul,  like  the  vital  principle  of  the  insect,  never  dies, 
and  at  the  resurrection,  "  God  giveth  it  a  body  as  it  pleaseth 
him.''  Accustom  yourselves,  my  young  friends,  to  observe 
and  trace  these  analogies  between  the  appearances  of  nature 
and  the  truths  of  revelation.  The  employment  is  pleasing, 
and  it  tends  to  piety. 

Thus  have  I  led  you  to  consider,  at  some  length,  the  gene- 
ral subject  of  the  resurrection,  because  it  does  not  occur  again, 
in  the  compendious  system  of  theology  contained  in  our  ca- 
techism. The  remainder  of  the  lecture  will  be  employed  in 
discussing,  more  closely,  the  particular  points  presented  in 
the  answer  before  us. 

"  At  the  resurrection,  believers  shall  be  raised  up  in  glory.'* 
The  scriptures  inform  us,  that  '^  the  dead  in  Christ  shall  rise 
first ;"  and  that  they  shall  come  forth  out  of  their  graves  with 
unspeakable  joy.  This  precedence  in  the  resurrection,  and 
the  unutterable  joy  with  which  the  souls  and  the  bodies  of  the 
saints  shall  be  united,  will  be  one  glorious  distinction,  which 
they  will  possess  over  the  wicked; — who  will  rise  after  them, 
with  ineflable  distress  and  horror. 

But  when  it  is  said  that  believers  shall  be  raised  up  in 
glory,  there  is  no  doubt  a  reference  to  the  nature  of  those  in- 
corruptible, active,  powerful,  and  spiritual  bodies,  with  which 
they  shall  rise,  and  of  which  we  have  already  taken  some 
general  notice;  but  the  special  reference  is  to  the  resemblance 
which  these  bodies  will  bear  to  the  glorified  body  of  their  Re- 
deemer. It  is  expressly  and  particularly  stated  in  scripture, 
in  regard  to  true  believers,  that  Christ  ^*  shall  change  their 

3  r 


410  LECTURES    ON  THE 

vile  body,  that  it  may  be  fashioned  like  unto  his  glorious 
body,  according  to  the  working  whereby  he  is  able  even  to 
subdue  all  things  unto  himself."  The  glorified  body  of  be- 
lievers, resembling  that  which  their  Lord  has  carried  into 
heaven,  will  not  only  be  in  itself  beautiful  and  splendid,  but 
subject  to  no  weariness  or  weakness:  it  will  be  capable  of 
^bearing  an  eternal  weight  of  glory;  of  serving  God  without 
intermission  day  and  night  in  his  temple  above  ;  and  of  an  ac- 
tivity and  energy  which  shall  not  hinder,  but  help,  all  the  ex- 
ercises and  exertions  of  the  soul. 

The  next  clause  of  the  answer  before  us  states,  that  be- 
lievers "shall  be  openly  acknowledged  and  acquitted  in  the 
day  of  judgment."  The  day  of  judgment  will  immediately 
succeed  to  the  resurrection.  Of  this  day  I  have  spoken,  ge- 
nerally, in  a  former  lecture;  and  do  not  mean  again  to  go  into 
a  particular  description  of  the  circumstances  of  it,  further  than 
is  necessary  to  illustrate  the  answer  before  us.  It  will  be  a 
day  of  unutterable  vengeance  and  terror  to  the  wicked ;  but 
a  day  of  complete  redemption  and  of  holy  joy  and  triumph  to 
the  righteous.  They  shall  then  be  "  openly  acknowledged 
and  acquitted."  That  is,  Christ  shall  then  openly^  before  the 
assembled  universe,  own  or  acknowledge  these  for  his  chosen 
people,  the  blessed  of  his  Father,  for  whom  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  is  prepared. 

In  like  manner  he  shall  acquit  them ;  that  is,  he  will  not 
only  vindicate  them  from  all  the  calumnies,  slanders,  and  as- 
persions, which  have  been  cast  upon  them  in  this  world, "and 
"  bring  forth  their  righteousness  as  the  light,  and  their  judg- 
ment as  the  noon-day  ;"  but  he  will  publish  a  declarative  par- 
don of  all  their  sins:  For  it  is  one  thing  io  forgive,  and  ano- 
ther io publish  that  forgiveness.  In  this  life,  when  believers, 
on  their  union  with  Christ,  are  justified,  they  are  indeed  ac- 
quitted before  God,  from  all  the  demands  of  the  law:  but  as 
to  men,  this  is  done  secretly;  it  is  unknown  to  them;  the 
whole  transaction  is  out  of  the  view  of  the  world; — nay,  it  is 
sometimes  not  known  even  to  believers  themselves.  But  at 
the  day  of  judgment,  there  shall  be  an  open  declaration,  be- 


SHORTER    CATECHISM.  411 

fore  God,  angels  and  men,  pronounced  in  the  most  publick 
and  solemn  manner,  that  each  of  these  believers  is  justified 
by  God  :  that  he  has  acquitted  them  from  the  sentence  of  con- 
demnation; that  for  the  righteousness'  sake  of  Christ,  they 
are  accepted  as  righteous  in  his  sight,  and  are  entitled  to  an 
eternity  of  happiness.  This  will  be  done  for  the  greater  dis- 
play of  the  grace  and  glory  of  God;  for  the  greater  comfort 
and  honour  of  the  saints;  and  for  the  greater  shame  and  con- 
fusion of  their  enemies,  and  the  enemies  of  God.  To  afford 
a  suitable  occasion  for  this  publick  declaration  and  manifesta- 
tion of  the  goodness  of  God  in  the  redemption  of  his  people; 
to  exhibit  their  true  character,  and  to  acknowledge  and  ho- 
nour them  as  his,  before  angels  and  men;  and  to  expose  the 
wicked  in  their  true  character,  with  equal  publicity,  and  to 
clothe  them  with  ineffable  shame  and  contempt — these  seem 
to  be  some  of  the  chief  purposes  for  which  the  day  of  judg- 
ment is  appointed. 

It  is  added  in  the  answer  before  us,  that  after  the  judgment, 
believers  shall  "  be  made  perfectly  blessed,  in  the  full  enjoy- 
ing of  God  to  all  eternity." 

To  be  perfectly  blessed  is  to  be  entirely  and  forever  exempt 
from  all  pain  or  uneasiness,  and  in  full  possession  of  all  the 
happiness  of  which  the  soul  is  capable;  and  this,  we  are  as- 
sured will  be  the  happy  lot  of  all  who  shall  be  acquitted  in  the 
final  judgment.  Not  that  we  are  to  suppose  that  all  glorified 
spirits  will  enjoy  an  equal  degree  of  happiness.  In  the  pas- 
sage already  cited,  we  are  reminded  that — "  One  star  differeth 
from  another  star  in  glory,"  and  that  "  so  also  is  the  resur- 
rection of  the  dead."  There  will  be  different  degrees  of  hap- 
piness among  the  saints,  according  to  their  different  capaci- 
ties, their  attainments  in  grace,  and  their  labours  of  love  in 
the  present  life.  But  all  will  be  satisfied— Cast  a  thousand 
vessels  of  different  capacities  into  the  ocean— all  will  he  full, 
and  equally  full,  yet  no  two  will  contain  the  same  quantity. 
By  this  similitude,  the  future  state  of  the  blessed  has  been 
often  illustrated. 

Our  Catechism  instructs  us  that  the  happiness  of  glorified 


412  LECTURES  ON  THE 

saints  will  arise  from  "the  full  enjoying  of  God  to  all  eter- 
nity/^ God  alone  is  adequate  to  satisfy  the  desires,  or  to 
constitute  the  chief  good,  of  an  immortal  soul.  No  finite,  no 
created  being,  can  fully  comprehend  God — Extend  what  is 
finite  as  far  as  imagination  can  reach,  still  there  is  an  im- 
measurable distance  between  it  and  what  is  infinite.  Hence 
it  is  plain,  that  all  holy  and  happy  beings  may  be  enlarging 
their  capacities  for  the  enjoyment  of  God  to  all  eternity,  and 
yet  find  him  the  same  inexhaustible  fountain  that  they  did  at 
first.  Every  glorified  spirit  will  have  such  a  perfect  know- 
ledge of  him,  as  shall  have  no  measure  set  to  it,  but  what 
arises  from  the  limited  capacity  of  the  creature; — and  this  ca- 
pacity may  still  enlarge  its  limits,  and  still  be  filled. 

We  have  reason  to  believe  that  an  object  of  great  delight  to 
the  bodily  eyes  of  the  redeemed  in  heaven,  will  be  that  glori- 
ous body  which  is  united  to  the  person  of  the  Son  of  God. 
The  glory  of  the  man  Christ  Jesus,  will  be  unspeakably  supe- 
rior to  the  glory  of  all  the  saints — They  indeed  will  shine 
forth  as  the  sun,  but,  "  the  Lamb  shall  be  the  light"  itself  of 
the  heavenly  city:  And  on  him  shall  every  eye  turn,  with  ad- 
miring and  adoring  rapture,  beholding  in  him  the  Redeemer 
to  whom  they  owe  their  all;  and  seeing  in  the  nature  which 
he  wears,  the  indissoluble  bond  of  union  between  God  and 
them. 

But  the  blissful  sight  of  God  in  heaven,  is  something  more 
than  any  external,  visible  glory,  of  what  kind  soever.  The 
scriptures  assure  us  that  his  people  "  shall  see  God,"  and 
"  see  him  as  he  is."  The  saints  in  heaven  will  see,  Fa- 
ther, Son,  and  Holy  Ghost:  not  with  their  bodily  eyes,  in 
respect  to  which  God  is  invisible;  but  with  the  eyes  of  the 
understanding — being  blessed  with  the  most  perfect,  full  and 
clear  perceptions  of  him  and  of  divine  things,  of  which  their 
powers  are  capable.  Here  they  only  "  see  through  a  glass 
darkly,  but  then  face  to  face:"  Here  it  is  only  by  glimpses, 
and  short  passing  views,  that  they  beliold  any  of  his  glory; 
but  there  they  shall  eternally,  and  without  interruption,  delight 
their  souls  with  unclouded  visions  of  him:  they  shall  for  ever 


SHORTER  CATECHISM.  413 

contemplate  his  infinite  love,  his  unchangeable  truth,  and  his 
wonderful  works,  with  the  utmost  complacency  and  dcli-ht. 
They  shall  have  a  clear,  distinct,  and  assured  view,  of  the  love 
which  he  bore  to  them  from  eternity;  and  will  bear  to  them 
forever  more.  The  revelations  of  glory  will  be  a  complete 
commentary  on  the  Bible— That  blessed  book  will  be  far  bet- 
ter and  more  extensively  understood  by  the  saints  in  heaven, 
than  it  ever  was  on  earth. 

As  the  word,  so  the  works  of  God,  will  then  be  more  per- 
fectly known  than  they  could  be  in  this  world.  The  saints' 
knowledge  of  the  material  creation,  and  of  all  sensitive  beings, 
will  then  be  brought  to  perfection,  and  it  will  be  seen  that 
*Mn  wisdom  he  hath  made  them  all.^'  Believers  will  also 
then  behold  the  chequered  web  of  Divine  Providence  com- 
pletely unravelled;  and  will  see  that  there  vvas  a  necessity 
for  all  the  trials  and  afflictions  of  this  mortal  state.  But  the 
chief  matter  of  their  eternal  admiration  will  be,  the  glorious 
work  of  redemption.  They  will  forever  wonder  and  praise, 
and  praise  and  wonder,  while  they  contemplate  the  depths 
of  wisdom  and  love,  of  goodness  and  holiness,  of  mercy  and 
justice,  of  power  and  grace,  which  shine  through  the  whole 
of  that  transcendently  glorious  device. 

AH  the  knowledge  of  the  saints  in  heaven,  will  be  ac- 
companied with  the  highest  and  purest  pleasure,  with  the  ut- 
most delight  of  their  holy  souls.  God  will  fully  and  freely 
communicate  himself  to  them ;  and  the  enjoyment  of  him  will 
go  as  far  as  their  most  enlarged  capacities  can  reach.  He  will 
admit  them  to  a  holy,  unrestrained  intercourse  and  familiarity 
with  himself.  In  the  language  of  scripture,  he  will  "  walk 
in  them:"  His  fulness  shall  ever  stand  open  to  them;  there 
shall  be  no  veil  between  him  and  them;  but  they  shall  behold 
him  in  immediate  vision.  From  this  free  communication,  and 
full  participation  of  the  divine  goodness  in  heaven,  there  will 
result  to  the  saints  who  behold  the  face  of  God,  a  perfect  like- 
ness, according  to  their  measure.  Hence  it  is  said  "We  shall 
be  like  him,  for  we  shall  see  him  as  he  is."  Joy  inconceiva- 
ble will  arise,  not  only  from  what  is  possessed,  but  from  what 


414  LECTURES,  &C. 

shall  be  eternally  in  prospect.  The  saints  will  know  that 
their  blessedness  is  to  be  endless — strictly  eternal.  Nor  will 
the  enjoyment  of  God  produce  satiety.  It  will  be  fresh  and 
new,  through  the  round  of  wasteless  ages — But  we  are  lost 
and  overwhelmed  in  the  contemplation. 

My  dear  youth — The  blessedness  of  which  I  have  been 
speaking  is  that  to  which  I  have  been  seeking  to  lead  you,  in 
all  the  instruction  which  I  have  endeavoured  to  communi- 
cate, and  in  all  the  exhortations  1  have  addressed  to  you,  in 
these  lectures  on  your  catechism.  Yes,  the  ultimate  object  of 
all  has  been  to  lead  you  to  heaven;  that  God  in  Christ  may 
be  glorified  in  you,  and  that  you  may  share  with  saints  and 
seraphs,  in  all  that  unutterable  and  inconceivable  bliss,  to 
which  your  attention  has  just  been  directed.  0  that  I  could 
impress  it  on  your  minds ! — 0,  rather,  that  God  by  his  Spirit 
would  effectually  impress  it  on  your  consciences  and  hearts, 
that  this  is  a  personal  concern  to  every  individual  of  you! 
This  heavenly  happiness  is  set  before  each  of  you,  as  an  ob- 
ject for  which  you  are  to  strive,  and  which  you  must  obtain; 
or  failing  to  obtain  it,  sink  to  all  the  horrors  of  the  pit  of  eter- 
nal perdition.  Is  it  not  worthy  of  all  attention,  and  of  all  effort, 
and  of  all  earnestness  in  prayer  for  the  aids  of  Almighty  grace 
— to  escape  from  hell  and  to  rise  to  heaven  !  How  manifest,  and 
how  dreadful,  is  the  infatuating  power  of  sin — that  a  rational 
creature  should  need  much  persuasion,  and  that  all  persuasion 
should  so  often  be  in  vain,  to  avoid  inconceivable  and  inter- 
minable misery,  and  to  secure  eternal  and  ever  increasing  fe- 
licity !  0  let  it  be  the  present  resolution  of  every  one  of  you, 
that  you  will,  from  this  moment,  strive  to  break  away  from 
all  the  spells  of  this  moral  fatuity;  that  you  will  no  longer 
listen  to  the  syren  song  of  sinful  pleasure;  that  you  will  not 
lose  heaven  by  delaying  for  another  hour  to  seek  it,  with  all 
the  energies  of  your  souls.  Form  the  resolution  in  the 
strength  of  God,  and  may  his  grace  crown  your  endeavours 
with  success.     Amen. 


,4-/%     F^i-«'> 


